Stigma

How to spell stigma

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce stigma

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does stigma mean?

1. nounA mark of social disapproval or shame attached to a person, group, or circumstance.
2. nounThe part of a flower's pistil that receives pollen during fertilisation.

Stigma in a sentence

• The charity works to remove the stigma around mental illness.

• Pollen grains land on the sticky stigma at the top of the flower.

• There is still a stigma attached to declaring bankruptcy.

• The biology diagram labelled the stigma, style, and ovary.

Where does stigma come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word comes straight from the Greek stigma, which literally meant a mark or brand pricked or tattooed into the skin, formed from the verb stizein, 'to prick, puncture, or tattoo'. In the ancient world such marks were often burned or cut into slaves and criminals, so the word already carried the idea of a visible sign of shame. Latin borrowed the term, and English took it up in the late 1500s, first for a literal brand or scar and then for the figurative 'mark of disgrace' that dominates modern use. The same Greek root for pricking gives us 'stigmata', the wounds traditionally linked with crucifixion, and 'astigmatism', an eye condition named because light fails to converge to a single point. The plain spelling keeps the original Greek g before m, which is the small detail writers must remember.

How the word is built

• stigma (Greek: a mark or brand made by a pointed instrument, from stizein 'to prick or tattoo')