melasma
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.57 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A tan or dark skin discoloration, particularly common in pregnant women, thought to be caused by the stimulation of melanocytes by estrogen and progesterone.
Uncountable
Etymology
From Latin melasma, from Ancient Greek μέλασμα (mélasma), from μελαίνειν (melaínein, “to blacken”) + -σμα (-sma), from μέλας (mélas, “black”).
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: melasma, μέλασμα