Standard Lemma guide

ringworm

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.

  • General-American: /ˈɹɪŋˌwɝm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A contagious fungal infection of the skin, characterized by ring-shaped discolored patches, covered by vesicles or scales.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • In superficial mycoses infection is localised to the skin, the hair, and the nails. An example is ringworm or tinea, an infection of the skin by a dermatophyte.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

infections of the skin or nails caused by fungi and appearing as itching circular patches

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: tinea, roundworm

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: fungal infection, mycosis

Narrower terms: dhobi itch, kerion, tinea pedis, athlete's foot, tinea barbae, barber's itch, tinea capitis, tinea corporis, tinea cruris, jock itch, eczema marginatum, tinea unguium

History

Etymology

From Middle English ringworm (“ringworm; intestinal worm”), from Old English rengwyrm (“maw-worm, intestinal worm”), equivalent to ring + worm.

Across languages

Translations

57 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: qere — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Arabic: سَعْفَة (saʕfa) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Arabic: قَرَع (qaraʕ) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Arabic: قُوبَاء (qūbāʔ) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Arabic: قرع (qraʕ) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Arabic: ڭوب (gub) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Catalan: tinya — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Chichewa: chipere — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Chichewa: chiwengo — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Chinese Mandarin: 癬 /癣 (xuǎn) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Chinese Mandarin: 癬疥 /癣疥 (xuǎnjiè) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Dutch: ringworm — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Esperanto: favo — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Finnish: silsa — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • French: teigne — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • French: roue de Sainte-Catherine — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • French: rogne — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Galician: tiña — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • German: Ringelflechte — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • German: Flechtengrind — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • German: Glatzflechte — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Hausa: màkērṑ — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Hindi: दाद (dād) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Indonesian: kurap — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Italian: tigna — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Japanese: 白癬 (hakusen) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Khmer: ស្រែង (sraeng) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Korean: 버짐 (beojim) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Malay: kurap — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Malayalam: വട്ടച്ചൊറി (vaṭṭaccoṟi) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Malayalam: ചുണങ്ങ് (cuṇaṅṅŭ) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Maltese: ħżieża — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Manchu: ᡶᡳᠶᡝᠯᡝᠨ (fiyelen) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Māori: muna — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Nepali: दाद (dād) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Norman: tangne — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Old English: dēawwyrm — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Polish: parch — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Polish: grzybica woszczynowa — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Polish: strupień woszczynowy — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Portuguese: tinha — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Portuguese: porrigem — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Russian: стригу́щий лиша́й (strigúščij lišáj) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Spanish: tiña — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Spanish: tinea — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Swedish: ringorm — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Swedish: revorm — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Telugu: తామర (tāmara) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Thai: กลาก (glàak) — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Unami: mishhwe — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Vietnamese: hắc lào — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Walloon: tigne — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Walloon: diele — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Walloon: rowe Sinte-Catrene — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Welsh: tarwden — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Welsh: gwreinyn — contagious fungal affliction of the skin
  • Welsh: gwreinen — contagious fungal affliction of the skin