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Origin and history of wart

wart(n.)

"small, circumscribed fleshy excrescence," Old English weart "wart," from Proto-Germanic *warton- (source also of Old Norse varta, Old Frisian warte, Dutch wrat, Old High German warza, German warze "wart"), perhaps ultimately from the same source as Latin verruca "swelling, wart."

Related: Warty. The phrase warts and all "without concealment of blemishes" (by 1930) is supposedly from Oliver Cromwell's instruction to his portrait painter; the story is attested by 1763 (in a Walpole letter) as "... and everything."

Entries linking to wart

wart-hog(n.)

type of swine, so called from the excrescences on the face, 1840, from wart + hog (n.)."They are without exception the ugliest of mammals" [Century Dictionary].

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    Trends of wart

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    vary
    perhaps related to varus "bent, crooked, knock-kneed," and varix "varicose vein," and, more distantly, to Old English wearte "wart...," Swedish varbulde "pus swelling," Latin verruca "wart."...
    baroque
    said to be from Portuguese barroco "imperfect pearl," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Spanish berruca "a wart...Fuseli's translation of Winkelmann, 1765] The Spanish word is perhaps from Latin verruca "a steep place, a height," hence "a wart...
    Ciceronian
    The name evidently is related to cicer "chickpea," and may have referred to a facial wart prominent on some ancestor of the...
    ward
    , sentry, keeper," from Proto-Germanic *wardaz "guard" (source also of Old Saxon ward, Old Norse vörðr, Old High German wart...
    corn
    many things similar in substance or form to the horns of animals and of projecting extremities or points: It could mean "a wart...
    bump
    1590s, "protuberance caused by a blow;" 1610s as "a dull-sounding, solid blow;" see bump (v.). The dancer's bump and grind is attested from 1940. To be like a bump on a log "silent, stupidly inarticulate" is by 1863, American English....1560s, "to bulge out;" 1610s, "to strike he
    protuberance
    1640s, "a swelling tumor on the body; anything swelled or pushed beyond the surrounding or adjacent surface," from Late Latin protuberantem (nominative protuberans), present participle of protuberare "to swell, bulge, grow forth," from Latin pro "forward" (see pro-) + tuber "lump
    excrescence
    early 15c., "action of growing out," from Latin excrescentia (plural) "abnormal growths," from excrescentem (nominative excrescens), present participle of excrescere "grow out, grow up," from ex "out" (see ex-) + crescere "to grow" (from PIE root *ker- (2) "to grow"). Meaning "th
    defect
    early 15c., "want or lack of anything," especially lack of something essential to perfection or completeness, from Old French defect and directly from Latin defectus "failure, revolt, falling away," noun use of past participle of deficere "to fail, desert," from de "down, away" (
    ram
    Old English ramm "male sheep," also "battering ram, instrument for crushing or driving by impact," and the zodiac sign; earlier rom "male sheep," a West Germanic word (cognates: Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, Dutch, Old High German ram), of unknown origin. Perhaps [Klein] conne

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