verruca

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableBritish

   A small, hard, often painful growth on the sole of the foot, caused by a virus and easily passed on in damp places such as pools.

   Grammar: Can be counted: one verruca, two verrucas.

   Patterns

   • get a verruca
   • treat a verruca
   • have a verruca on something

   She had to wear a rubber sock in the pool because of her verruca.

   The pharmacist recommended a gel to treat the verruca on my heel.

   Children often pick up a verruca from the floor of changing rooms.

2. 2nouncountablemedicaltechnical

   In medical language, any wart on the skin of any part of the body.

   Grammar: Used in clinical contexts with a plural verrucae: several verrucae.

   Patterns

   • verruca vulgaris

   The dermatologist identified the growth on his finger as a verruca.

   Multiple verrucae can appear if the virus spreads across the skin.

Word forms

Common combinations

plantar verruca

A plantar verruca can make walking uncomfortable.

get a verruca

He got a verruca after swimming every week.

treat a verruca

You can treat a verruca with freezing spray.

cover a verruca

Swimmers must cover a verruca with a waterproof plaster.

verruca sock

The school gave her a verruca sock for swimming lessons.

Synonyms and how they differ

plantar wart

This is the usual American name and means the same foot growth, while verruca is the common British word.

wart

Wart is the general word for such growths on any skin, whereas verruca usually points to the foot.

Word family

verrucous adjective

covered with wart-like bumps, used in medicine and biology

verruciform adjective

shaped like a wart

Commonly confused: verruca or corn?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “verruca”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words