plague spot

9.9

A dark, painful skin spot that shows a person has the plague

noun
/pleɪɡ spɑt/

Archaic

: mancha de peste

The doctor examined the patient and confirmed the presence of a plague spot on his arm.

Examples

She noticed a plague spot on the victim's neck, a symptom that alarmed the medical team.
In historical accounts, the plague spot often appeared as dark marks on the skin during outbreaks.
Not so, Eugene Aram; murder is brought home to him by evidence... he has the plague spot on his body and soul, from which no ingenuity can free him." (4).

Academic text (2016)

Synonyms

pock

vsplague spot

Archaic

4 9.8

A small raised mark on the skin left after an illness like smallpox

is a dark lasting spot used as a sign of a specific deadly disease

blotch

vsplague spot

4 3.9

A large irregular spot on skin or another surface that is a different color

is usually a small dark diagnostic mark not a broad discoloration

pockmark

vsplague spot

3 7.7

A small scar-like pit on the skin left by disease such as smallpox or acne

is a dark active sign during infection rather than a healed scar

Surface Forms

plague spot singular

plague spots plural

Morphology

plague + spot

The meaning is directly compositional: 'plague' (a disease) + 'spot' (a small mark) yields a mark caused by the plague. Disease+symptom compounds are a straightforward, cross-linguistically common pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the two words can infer this meaning.

Etymology

Plague spot The noun plague spot comes from medieval times when doctors noticed a dark, painful spot on the skin of people with the plague. That real spot was seen as a clear 'sign' of the disease and often of death, so the phrase means the dark skin mark that shows someone has the plague.