whitehead

W4H4I1T1E1H4E1A1D2

noun

A type of comedo, manifesting as a small whitish bump of the skin due to retention of sebum and dead skin cells in a skin pore blocked by a thin layer of epithelium.

“Ruth knew that the whiteheads of her teenage acne were a temporary state of affairs, but that did nothing to quell her distress when an eruption hit just before prom.”

Less commonScrabble 19

Meanings

whitehead1

nounwhitehead (plural whiteheads)

plural whiteheads

  1. dermatologyA type of comedo, manifesting as a small whitish bump of the skin due to retention of sebum and dead skin cells in a skin pore blocked by a thin layer of epithelium.

    Ruth knew that the whiteheads of her teenage acne were a temporary state of affairs, but that did nothing to quell her distress when an eruption hit just before prom.

    1 more example

    Ma was taking a sterilized needle to a whitehead on my chin.

    2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, page 151

    Synonyms: closed comedo

  2. A species of passerine bird, endemic to New Zealand (Mohoua albicilla).
  3. The blue-winged snow goose, Anser caerulescens caerulescens.
  4. The surf scoter duck.
  5. A domestic pigeon of a particular breed; a white-tailed monk.

Whitehead2

proper nounWhitehead (countable and uncountable, plural Whiteheads)

plural Whiteheads

  1. countableuncountableA surname.
  2. A place name:
    1. countableuncountableA small coastal town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland; a headland there is named White Head (Irish grid ref J 4791).
    2. countableuncountableA rural municipality in south-west Manitoba, Canada; in full, the Rural Municipality of Whitehead.
    3. countableuncountableA community in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada.
nounWhitehead (plural Whiteheads)

plural Whiteheads

  1. A form of self-propelling torpedo.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA type of comedo, manifesting as a small whitish bump of the skin due to retention of sebum and dead skin cells in a skin pore blocked by a thin layer of epithelium.

More synonyms by meaning

nouna black-tipped plug clogging a pore of the skin

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Whitehead · proper noun, noun

From white + head.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish valkopää
  • valkopääpimple
German Mitesser, Komedo
  • Mitesserpimple
  • Komedopimple
Māori pōpokotea
  • pōpokoteaa passerine bird of New Zealand
Ukrainian вуго́р
  • вуго́р (vuhór)pimple
Cite this entry
APA

whitehead. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whitehead

MLA

“whitehead.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whitehead. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “whitehead,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whitehead.

Source: whitehead on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.