tetter

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   archaic: any of various itching, scaly, blistering, or pustular skin eruptions, without the precision of a modern diagnosis

   The old medical text prescribed an ointment for tetter and other eruptions.

2. 2
   verb

   archaic: to affect the skin with a tetter or similar eruption

   The untreated infection tettered the skin around the wound.

Inherited through Middle English teter from Old English teter or tetr, an old Germanic name for a skin eruption. Historical tetter covered several conditions now distinguished as eczema, ringworm, impetigo, and other disorders, so it should not be read as a precise modern diagnosis.

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