scarification
Pronunciation: /ˌskɛɹɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/
The English word “scarification” has 4 meanings listed here.
noun
- The act of scarifying: raking the ground harshly to remove weeds, etc.
- A medieval form of penance in which the skin was damaged with a knife or hot iron.
- The scratching, etching, burning / branding, or superficially cutting designs, pictures, or words into the skin as a permanent body modification.
- A route of administration for some vaccinations and tests: rather than hypodermic injection, the site is inoculated intradermally not with any injection but rather only with small, shallow pricks or scratches; the needle is not hollow.
Etymology
From Old French scarificacion, from Late Latin scarificatio. See scarify for more.
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.