One of the trials of adolescence:
Comedo
(||Com"e*do) n.; pl. Comedones [L., a glutton. See Comestible.] (Med.) A small nodule or cystic tumor, common on the nose, etc., which on pressure allows the escape of a yellow wormlike mass of retained oily secretion, with a black head
Great word, Doc. The OED suggests that an earlier meaning of comedo is the small worms that devour a body, (maggots?). Anyway, the German term for comedo is Mitesser which is a fine example of a calque or loan translation. The prefix com- in Latin meaning the same as the German mit 'together, with' and the edo, edere, meaning the same as essen 'to eat', and in fact the two later words are cognate. A favorite calque of mine is luna de miel in Spanish for honeymoon.
Dear jheem: You just used a word new to me: "calque". I had to look it up:
CALQUE
Pronunciation: kalk
WordNet Dictionary
Definition: [n] an expression introduced into one language by translating it from another language
Thanks for teaching me a new word.
You're welcome. It's related to our word caulk as in what you do to your leaky windows before winter sets in. All from Latin calx, calcis, which you should remember from anatomy class. What's a podiatrist? A heel-healer ...