whitlow

Late Middle English, alteration of whitflaw, the first element coming from either Middle Dutch vijt or Low German fit (“abscess”), borrowed from Latin fīcus (“fig-shaped (ulcer)”), though also influenced by white.[1] The Latin loan also existed in other languages, such as Old English fic (“hemorrhoids”). See flaw.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈʍɪt.loʊ/, /ˈwɪt.loʊ/

whitlow (plural whitlows)

1. An infection under the cuticle of a fingernail or toenail.
   • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd:

     'Twas a bad leg allowed me to read the Pilgrim's Progress, and Mark Clark learnt All-Fours in a whitlow.

• nimpingang (UK dialect, archaic), paronychia, wicklow (common misspelling in some regions)

• agnail, hangnail

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “whitlow”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.