Standard Lemma guide

chilblain

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /t͡ʃɪlbleɪn/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: CH IH1 L B L EY2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An itchy purple red inflammation of the skin, especially of the hands, feet and ears, occurring when capillaries below the skin are damaged by exposure to cold weather (but do not freeze, which would lead to frostbite instead).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: erythema pernio, pernio, kibe

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

inflammation of the hands and feet caused by exposure to cold and moisture

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: chilblains, pernio

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: blain

Narrower terms: kibe

History

Etymology

From chill + blain, literally “cold sore”.

Across languages

Translations

48 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: morth — inflammation
  • Arabic: شَرَث (šaraṯ) — inflammation
  • Arabic: تَوَرُّم أَصَابِيع (tawarrum ʔaṣābīʕ) — inflammation
  • Armenian: մատների ցրտահարում (matneri cʻrtaharum) — inflammation
  • Basque: ospel — inflammation
  • Bulgarian: измръзване (izmrǎzvane) — inflammation
  • Bulgarian: измръзнало място (izmrǎznalo mjasto) — inflammation
  • Catalan: penelló — inflammation
  • Chinese Mandarin: 凍瘡 /冻疮 (dòngchuāng) — inflammation
  • Chinese Mandarin: 凍傷 /冻伤 (dòngshāng) — inflammation
  • Chinese Mandarin: 瘃 (zhú) — inflammation
  • Czech: oznobenina — inflammation
  • Finnish: kylmänkyhmy — inflammation
  • French: engelure — inflammation
  • Galician: frieira — inflammation
  • Galician: sieiro — inflammation
  • German: Frostbeule — inflammation
  • Greek: χιονίστρα (chionístra) — inflammation
  • Irish: fuachtán — inflammation
  • Italian: gelone — inflammation
  • Japanese: 霜焼け (shimoyake) — inflammation
  • Japanese: 霜焼 (shimoyake) — inflammation
  • Japanese: 凍瘡 (tōsō) — inflammation
  • Japanese: 凍傷 (tōshō) — inflammation
  • Kashmiri: شُہہ (śuhh) — inflammation
  • Kazakh: үсу (üsu) — inflammation
  • Korean: 동창 (dongchang) — inflammation
  • Latin: perniō — inflammation
  • Māori: mangeo — inflammation
  • Māori: māngiongio — inflammation
  • Norman: fraideuse — inflammation
  • Polish: odmrozina — inflammation
  • Portuguese: frieira — inflammation
  • Romanian: degerătură — inflammation
  • Russian: обмороже́ние (obmorožénije) — inflammation
  • Russian: обморо́женное ме́сто (obmoróžennoje mésto) — inflammation
  • Serbo-Croatian: промрзлина — inflammation
  • Serbo-Croatian: promrzlina — inflammation
  • Sicilian: ròsuli — inflammation
  • Spanish: sabañón — inflammation
  • Spanish: friera — inflammation
  • Swedish: kylknöl — inflammation
  • Tagalog: sabanyon — inflammation
  • Vietnamese: cước — inflammation
  • Welsh: llosg eira — inflammation
  • Welsh: malaith — inflammation
  • Woiwurrung: budhun djinang — inflammation
  • Zazaki: zuzıkyayış — inflammation