Koplik's spots
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈkɒplɪks spɑts/
- Specialized
- Koplik's spots are often visible on the inner cheeks and are an early sign of measles in children.
Examples
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She looks in the child's mouth and sees Koplik's spots.
Blog text (10) -
The doctor identified Koplik's spots in the patient's mouth, indicating a measles infection.
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After examining the child's mouth, the pediatrician confirmed the presence of Koplik's spots.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Koplik's + spot
This is an eponymic medical term: the proper name 'Koplik's' carries no lexical meaning for a learner and 'spot' only denotes a small mark, so the specific clinical sense (small red spots with white centers indicating measles) cannot be inferred from the parts. The meaning is specialized and conventionalized in medicine, not compositionally predictable, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would not reliably understand it.
Etymology
Koplik's spots are named after Dr. Henry Koplik, who described tiny red spots with pale white centres that appear on the inside of the mouth. They show up early in 'measles', so they became an early 'sign' doctors use to recognise the illness.