suppuration

/ˌsʌpjəˈreɪʃən/

Other forms: suppurations

Suppuration is the process of pus forming. If you can't remove a tiny splinter from your finger, over time some suppuration may occur around it.

Use the noun suppuration when you need a nice clean medical term for the formation of pus, the white substance that sometimes oozes from a sore or a pimple. Suppuration can happen because of an infection or skin irritation. The Latin root is suppurare, "to form or discharge pus," from sub, "under," and pus, which literally means "matter from a sore," and figuratively, "bitterness or malice."

Definitions of suppuration

1. noun

   (medicine) the formation of morbific matter in an abscess or a vesicle and the discharge of pus
   synonyms: festering, maturation

   type of:

   activity, bodily function, bodily process, body process

   an organic process that takes place in the body
2. noun

   a fluid product of inflammation
   synonyms: festering, ichor, purulence, pus, sanies

   types:

   gleet

   a thin morbid discharge as from a wound or especially chronic gonorrhea

   type of:

   bodily fluid, body fluid, humor, humour, liquid body substance

   the liquid parts of the body