A swollen, painful area in the body filled with pus, usually caused by an infection.
From Latin *abscessus* meaning “a going away,” from *abscedere* “to go away, withdraw,” referring to bad fluids moving away from healthy tissue. It came into English through medical Latin.
The name sounds fancy, but an abscess is basically your body walling off an infection in a pus-filled pocket. The original idea of ‘going away’ shows how the body tries to push the problem aside and contain it.
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