The story
From Latin inflected forms of molluscus (“soft”), + contagiosus (“contagious”) (from contagio (“contact”)).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
molluscum contagiosum
Today it means: A viral infection of the skin or (occasionally) mucous membranes, caused by Molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV), a DNA poxvirus. Full definition →