English

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Etymology

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black + head

Noun

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blackhead (countable and uncountable, plural blackheads)

  1. (countable, medicine) A comedo, a skin blemish, a type of acne vulgaris, where a pore becomes clogged with a dark, hard, cheesy keratin-filled substance forming a hard black "head" on the skin's surface.
    Coordinate term: whitehead
    • 1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull:
      See there! A son is born
      And we pronounce him fit to fight
      There are blackheads on his shoulders
      And he pees himself in the night.
    • 2020, Brandon Taylor, Real Life, Daunt Books Originals, page 215:
      Wallace sees a cluster of tiny blackheads at the corner of his nose.
  2. (uncountable) A form of histomoniasis in poultry, characterized by cyanotic discoloration on the bird's head.
  3. (countable) A scaup: any of various ducks of the genus Aythya.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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