birthmark

Etymology

It is formed from English birth + mark.^[2][3][4] The first element is from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse *byrðr,^[5] and the second is from Old English mearc (“boundary, limit; sign, landmark”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A patch or growth on the skin present from birth: 1579, in Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives.^[2] Merriam-Webster gives 1580,^[3] and Dictionary.com 1570–80.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its bodily meaning since the 16th century,^[2] and has also been used figuratively,^[2] for a quality that marks out a person or thing.^[3] Merriam-Webster quotes Dylan Thomas calling the way words sang for a man "the birthmark of a poet".^[3] A verb, to give a birthmark to and usually found in the passive, is dated 1883.^[3] In American regional speech birthmark could also name a phobia or other defect supposed to come from something the mother went through while pregnant, as in a 1935 report from southwest Iowa,^[6] and a few informants in a survey of 1966–70 used it for the navel.^[6]

Timeline

• 1579 – a mark on the skin present from birth.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates this to 1580.^[3]
• 1883 – verb, to fix a birthmark on someone.^[3]
• 1935 – in Iowa, a defect supposed to be caused by the mother's experience in pregnancy.^[6]
• 1966–70 – in American regional use, the navel.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A brown or red blemish, mole or growth on the skin that is there from birth; a nevus: A pale birthmark ran along his left forearm.^[7][3][2]
2. A distinguishing quality of a person or thing.^[3][2]
3. (American regional) A phobia or other defect supposed to be caused in an unborn child by the mother's experience.^[6]
4. (American regional) The navel.^[6]

Verb

1. To put a birthmark on, usually in the passive.^[3][6]

Word family

• birthmarked

Related words

• birth
• mark

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins