Meanings
nounulcer (plural ulcers)
plural ulcers
- medicineAn open sore of the skin, eyes or mucous membrane, often caused by an initial abrasion and generally maintained by an inflammation and/or an infection.
- medicinePeptic ulcer.
"Worry never solved any problems. Only gives you ulcers."
1957, Sydney J. Bounds, The Robot Brains, London: Digit Books, page 35 - figurativelyAnything that festers and corrupts like an open sore; a vice in character.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna circumscribed inflammatory and often suppurating lesion on the skin or an internal mucous surface resulting in necrosis of tissue
Similar
Broader
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinulcus
- Old Frenchulcere
- Englishulcer
From Old French ulcere, from Latin ulcus. Doublet of ulcus.
More words from Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἕλκος
- ἕλκος (hélkos)open sore
Arabic قُرْحَة
- قُرْحَة (qurḥa)open sore
Basque ultzera
- ultzeraopen sore
Bengali জখম
- জখম (zôkhôm)open sore
Bulgarian поквара, я́зва
- поквара (pokvara)anything that festers and corrupts like an open sore
- я́зва (jázva)open sore
Catalan úlcera, nafra
- úlceraopen sore
- nafraopen sore
Chinese Mandarin 潰瘍 /溃疡
- 潰瘍 /溃疡 (kuìyáng)open sore
Czech vřed
- vředopen sore
Danish byld
- byldopen sore
Dutch zweer
- zweeropen sore
Esperanto ulcero
- ulceroopen sore
Estonian haavand
- haavandopen sore
Finnish avoin haava, haava
- avoin haavaanything that festers and corrupts like an open sore
- haavaopen sore
- haavaumaopen sore
- haavautumaopen sore
French ulcère
- ulcèreopen sore
German Geschwür, Ulcus
- Geschwüropen sore
- Ulcusopen sore
Greek έλκος
- έλκος (élkos)open sore
Hebrew כִּיב, אולקוס
- כִּיב (kiv)open sore
- אולקוס ('úlkus)open sore
Hindi फोड़ा, व्रण
- फोड़ा (phoṛā)open sore
- व्रण (vraṇ)open sore
- फुड़िया (phuṛiyā)open sore
Hungarian fekély
- fekélyopen sore
Indonesian borok, sariawan
- borokopen sore
- sariawanopen sore
- tukakopen sore
- ulkusopen sore
Irish othras
- othrasopen sore
Italian ulcera
- ulceraopen sore
Japanese 潰瘍
- 潰瘍 (kaiyō)open sore
Korean 궤양
- 궤양 (gweyang)open sore
Latin vomica, ulcus
- vomicaopen sore
- ulcusopen sore
Latvian čūla
- čūlaopen sore
Lithuanian opa
- opaopen sore
Malay ulser
- ulseropen sore
Māori kōmaoa, katitohe
- kōmaoaopen sore
- katitoheopen sore
- ipuipuopen sore
- kehaopen sore
- maiaoopen sore
Norwegian Bokmål byll
- byllopen sore
Persian ریش, زخم
- ریش (riš)open sore
- زخم (zaxm)open sore
- گزیدگی (gazidegi)open sore
- دمل (domal)open sore
Polish wrzód
- wrzódopen sore
Portuguese úlcera
- úlceraopen sore
Romanian ulcer
- ulceropen sore
Russian я́зва
- я́зва (jázva)open sore
Scottish Gaelic neasgaid
- neasgaidopen sore
Slovak vred
- vredopen sore
Spanish llaga, úlcera
- llagaopen sore
- úlceraopen sore
Swahili kidonda
- kidondaopen sore
Swedish böld
- böldopen sore
Tagalog ulsera, ulser
- ulseraopen sore
- ulseropen sore
Thai แผลเปื่อย
- แผลเปื่อย (plɛ̌ɛ-bpʉ̀ai)open sore
Turkish ülser
- ülseropen sore
Ukrainian ви́разка, ура́зка
- ви́разка (výrazka)open sore
- ура́зка (urázka)open sore
- ве́ред (véred)open sore
Vietnamese loét
- loétopen sore
Yiddish געשוויר
- געשוויר (geshvir)open sore
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with ulcer
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
ulcer. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ulcer
MLA
“ulcer.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ulcer. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ulcer,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ulcer.
Source: ulcer on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.