Standard Lemma guide

ulcer

noun · verb · 5 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈʌlsə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈʌlsɚ/
  • rhymes with -ʌlsə(ɹ)
  • CMU ARPABET: AH1 L S ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An open sore of the skin, eyes or mucous membrane, often caused by an initial abrasion and generally maintained by an inflammation and/or an infection.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Peptic ulcer.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Anything that festers and corrupts like an open sore; a vice in character.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To ulcerate.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a circumscribed inflammatory and often suppurating lesion on the skin or an internal mucous surface resulting in necrosis of tissue

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ulceration

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: lesion

Narrower terms: aphthous ulcer, bedsore, pressure sore, decubitus ulcer, chancroid, peptic ulcer, peptic ulceration, canker, canker sore, noli-me-tangere, noma

History

Etymology

From Old French ulcere, from Latin ulcus. Doublet of ulcus.

Across languages

Translations

110 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: ulcerë — open sore
  • Arabic: قَرْحَة (qarḥa) — open sore
  • Arabic: قُرْحَة (qurḥa) — open sore
  • Armenian: խոց (xocʻ) — open sore
  • Azerbaijani: xora — open sore
  • Azerbaijani: yara — open sore
  • Basque: ultzera — open sore
  • Belarusian: я́зва (jázva) — open sore
  • Belarusian: ве́рад (vjérad) — open sore
  • Bengali: জখম (zôkhôm) — open sore
  • Bulgarian: я́зва (jázva) — open sore
  • Catalan: úlcera — open sore
  • Catalan: nafra — open sore
  • Chinese Mandarin: 潰瘍 /溃疡 (kuìyáng) — open sore
  • Czech: vřed — open sore
  • Danish: byld — open sore
  • Dutch: zweer — open sore
  • Esperanto: ulcero — open sore
  • Estonian: haavand — open sore
  • Finnish: haava — open sore
  • Finnish: haavauma — open sore
  • Finnish: haavautuma — open sore
  • French: ulcère — open sore
  • Galician: úlcera — open sore
  • Galician: úcera — open sore
  • Galician: chaga — open sore
  • Georgian: წყლული (c̣q̇luli) — open sore
  • Georgian: იარა (iara) — open sore
  • German: Geschwür — open sore
  • German: Ulcus — open sore
  • Greek: έλκος (élkos) — open sore
  • Ancient Greek: ἕλκος (hélkos) — open sore
  • Hebrew: כִּיב (kiv) — open sore
  • Hebrew: אולקוס ('úlkus) — open sore
  • Hindi: फोड़ा (phoṛā) — open sore
  • Hindi: व्रण (vraṇ) — open sore
  • Hindi: फुड़िया (phuṛiyā) — open sore
  • Hungarian: fekély — open sore
  • Indonesian: borok — open sore
  • Indonesian: sariawan — open sore
  • Indonesian: tukak — open sore
  • Indonesian: ulkus — open sore
  • Irish: othras — open sore
  • Italian: ulcera — open sore
  • Japanese: 潰瘍 (kaiyō) — open sore
  • Kazakh: жара (jara) — open sore
  • Khmer: ដំបៅ (dɑmbaw) — open sore
  • Khmer: វណ (vĕəʼnaʼ) — open sore
  • Khmer: ម្រេញ (mrɨñ) — open sore
  • Korean: 궤양 (gweyang) — open sore
  • Kyrgyz: жара (jara) — open sore
  • Lao: ແຜບວມ (phǣ būam) — open sore
  • Latin: vomica — open sore
  • Latin: ulcus — open sore
  • Latvian: čūla — open sore
  • Lithuanian: opa — open sore
  • Macedonian: чир (čir) — open sore
  • Malay: ulser — open sore
  • Māori: kōmaoa — open sore
  • Māori: katitohe — open sore
  • Māori: ipuipu — open sore
  • Māori: keha — open sore
  • Māori: maiao — open sore
  • Mongolian: шарх (šarx) — open sore
  • Nepali: अल्सर (alsar) — open sore
  • Norwegian Bokmål: byll — open sore
  • Persian: ریش (riš) — open sore
  • Persian: زخم (zaxm) — open sore
  • Persian: گزیدگی (gazidegi) — open sore
  • Persian: دمل (domal) — open sore
  • Polish: wrzód — open sore
  • Portuguese: úlcera — open sore
  • Romanian: ulcer — open sore
  • Russian: я́зва (jázva) — open sore
  • Scottish Gaelic: neasgaid — open sore
  • Serbo-Croatian: чи̏р — open sore
  • Serbo-Croatian: гри̏злица — open sore
  • Serbo-Croatian: čȉr — open sore
  • Serbo-Croatian: grȉzlica — open sore
  • Slovak: vred — open sore
  • Slovene: čir — open sore
  • Slovene: razjeda — open sore
  • Spanish: llaga — open sore
  • Spanish: úlcera — open sore
  • Swahili: kidonda — open sore
  • Swedish: böld — open sore
  • Tagalog: ulsera — open sore
  • Tagalog: ulser — open sore
  • Tajik: захм (zaxm) — open sore
  • Tajik: реш (reš) — open sore
  • Tajik: яра (yara) — open sore
  • Tajik: ҷароҳат (jarohat) — open sore
  • Telugu: పుండు (puṇḍu) — open sore
  • Thai: แผลเปื่อย (plɛ̌ɛ-bpʉ̀ai) — open sore
  • Turkish: ülser — open sore
  • Turkmen: ýara — open sore
  • Ukrainian: ви́разка (výrazka) — open sore
  • Ukrainian: ура́зка (urázka) — open sore
  • Ukrainian: ве́ред (véred) — open sore
  • Uzbek: yara — open sore
  • Uzbek: jarohat — open sore
  • Vietnamese: loét — open sore
  • Volapük: luuk — open sore
  • Volapük: kanseraluuk (cancerous) — open sore
  • Volapük: stomägaluuk — open sore
  • Yiddish: געשוויר (geshvir) — open sore
  • Yoruba: ojuju — open sore
  • Yoruba: ooju — open sore
  • Bulgarian: поквара (pokvara) — anything that festers and corrupts like an open sore
  • Finnish: avoin haava — anything that festers and corrupts like an open sore