scar

/skɑr/

/skɑ/

Other forms: scars; scarred; scarring

A scar is a place where a wound healed but is still visible, or if you're little, it's a mark where a boo-boo was.

Scar is from the Greek word eskhara, a "scab formed after a burn." It's all that and more. Scar can be a noun or a verb — you can have a scar on your knee after your skateboarding incident, and a bad round of chicken pox can scar you. Something scary can scar, you, too, like a horror movie or catching your parents in the act. Scars can be emotional. Take one letter off scare and you're left with a scar.

Definitions of scar

1. noun

   a mark left (usually on the skin) by the healing of injured tissue
   synonyms: cicatrice, cicatrix

   types:

   callus

   bony tissue formed during the healing of a fractured bone

   cheloid, keloid

   raised pinkish scar tissue at the site of an injury; results from excessive tissue repair

   pockmark

   a scar or pit on the skin that is left by a pustule of smallpox or acne or other eruptive disease

   sword-cut

   a scar from a cut made by a sword

   vaccination

   the scar left following inoculation with a vaccine

   chestnut

   a small horny callus on the inner surface of a horse's leg

   type of:

   symptom

   (medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease
2. noun

   an indication of damage
   synonyms: mark, scrape, scratch

   type of:

   blemish, defect, mar

   a mark or flaw that spoils the appearance of something (especially on a person's body)
3. verb

   mark with a scar
   “The skin disease scarred his face permanently”

   synonyms: mark, pit, pock

   mark, nock, score

   make small marks into the surface of

   types:

   pockmark

   mark with or as if with pockmarks

   cicatrise, cicatrize

   form a scar, after an injury

   type of:

   blemish, deface, disfigure

   mar or spoil the appearance of