chancre

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from French chancre (“cancer”), from Latin cancer (“crab”). Cognate to canker and cancer.

1. Skin lesion, sometimes associated with certain contagious diseases such as syphilis.

   “The nurse stood up and went towards the door. At that point the caretaker said to me, "It's a chancre she's got." I didn't understand, so I looked at the nurse and saw that she had a bandage round her head just below the eyes. Where her nose should have been, the bandage was flat. Her face seemed to be nothing but a white bandage.”

   “If the primary stage is not treated the chancre will disappear after four to eight weeks but remember that the germ is still in the body.”