Meanings
plural ringworms
- uncountableusuallyA contagious fungal infection of the skin, characterized by ring-shaped discolored patches, covered by vesicles or scales.
In superficial mycoses infection is localised to the skin, the hair, and the nails. An example is ringworm or tinea, an infection of the skin by a dermatophyte.
1 more example
Many of these natives, especially the lower classes, and fishermen, have their skins disfigured in a singular manner, by a sort of scurfy disease, similar to the ring-worm, or rather to a person whose skin was peeling off from the effects of the sun.
1848 December, “Pacific Ocean: The Island of Bornabi”, in The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle, volume 17, number 12, page 647Synonyms: dermatophytosis, tinea
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA contagious fungal infection of the skin, characterized by ring-shaped discolored patches, covered by vesicles or scales.
More synonyms by meaning
nouninfections of the skin or nails caused by fungi and appearing as itching circular patches
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishrengwyrm“maw-worm, intestinal worm”
- Middle Englishringworm“ringworm; intestinal worm”
- Englishringworm
From Middle English ringworm (“ringworm; intestinal worm”), from Old English rengwyrm (“maw-worm, intestinal worm”), equivalent to ring + worm.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic سَعْفَة, قَرَع
- سَعْفَة (saʕfa)contagious fungal affliction of the skin
- قَرَع (qaraʕ)contagious fungal affliction of the skin
- قُوبَاء (qūbāʔ)contagious fungal affliction of the skin
Catalan tinya
- tinyacontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Chinese Mandarin 癬 /癣, 癬疥 /癣疥
- 癬 /癣 (xuǎn)contagious fungal affliction of the skin
- 癬疥 /癣疥 (xuǎnjiè)contagious fungal affliction of the skin
Dutch ringworm
- ringwormcontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Esperanto favo
- favocontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Finnish silsa
- silsacontagious fungal affliction of the skin
French teigne, roue de Sainte-Catherine
- teignecontagious fungal affliction of the skin
- roue de Sainte-Catherinecontagious fungal affliction of the skin
- rognecontagious fungal affliction of the skin
German Ringelflechte, Flechtengrind
- Ringelflechtecontagious fungal affliction of the skin
- Flechtengrindcontagious fungal affliction of the skin
- Glatzflechtecontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Hindi दाद
- दाद (dād)contagious fungal affliction of the skin
Indonesian kurap
- kurapcontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Italian tigna
- tignacontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Japanese 白癬
- 白癬 (hakusen)contagious fungal affliction of the skin
Korean 버짐
- 버짐 (beojim)contagious fungal affliction of the skin
Malay kurap
- kurapcontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Māori muna
- munacontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Polish parch, grzybica woszczynowa
- parchcontagious fungal affliction of the skin
- grzybica woszczynowacontagious fungal affliction of the skin
- strupień woszczynowycontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Portuguese tinha, porrigem
- tinhacontagious fungal affliction of the skin
- porrigemcontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Russian стригу́щий лиша́й
- стригу́щий лиша́й (strigúščij lišáj)contagious fungal affliction of the skin
Spanish tiña, tinea
- tiñacontagious fungal affliction of the skin
- tineacontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Swedish ringorm, revorm
- ringormcontagious fungal affliction of the skin
- revormcontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Thai กลาก
- กลาก (glàak)contagious fungal affliction of the skin
Vietnamese hắc lào
- hắc làocontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Welsh tarwden, gwreinyn
- tarwdencontagious fungal affliction of the skin
- gwreinyncontagious fungal affliction of the skin
- gwreinencontagious fungal affliction of the skin
Cite this entry
ringworm. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ringworm
“ringworm.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ringworm. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ringworm,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ringworm.
Source: ringworm on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.