Definition

1. Noun:
   • A small, painful piece of torn or loose skin, typically at the side or base of a fingernail or toenail. It is often caused by dry skin or minor injury and can become sore and easily infected if pulled.

Usage

• Noun:
  • The term "agnail" is used to describe a specific, common minor skin injury. It is a formal or medical term; in everyday conversation, people more often use "hangnail."
  • It is typically used in singular form (e.g., an agnail) but can be plural (e.g., painful agnails).
  • Example: She had a painful agnail on her thumb that made it difficult to type.

Examples

• Noun:
  • I need to trim this agnail carefully to avoid tearing it further.
  • The manicurist treated the agnail with antiseptic to prevent infection.
  • Dry winter weather often causes agnails around my fingernails.

Advanced Usage

• The word "agnail" is considered somewhat archaic or highly technical in modern English. Its usage is now primarily found in medical or historical texts.
• Historically, "agnail" (from Old English , meaning "painful nail") could also refer to a corn or ulcer on the toe, but this meaning is obsolete.

Variants and Related Words

• Hangnail (noun): The common, everyday term for an agnail. It refers to the same condition—a small piece of torn skin near a nail.
  • Stop biting that hangnail; you'll make it worse.
• Whitlow (noun): A different, more serious condition involving infection of the fingertip, which an untreated agnail can sometimes lead to.

Synonyms

• Hangnail: The most direct and common synonym.
• Nail tear: A descriptive phrase for the condition.

Notes on Meaning

• Primary Meaning: The sole contemporary meaning is a strip of torn skin adjacent to a fingernail or toenail.
• Distinction: Do not confuse an "agnail" with an ingrown nail (onychocryptosis), which is when the nail itself grows into the skin. An agnail involves only the skin.

Noun

1. a loose narrow strip of skin near the base of a fingernail; tearing it produces a painful sore that is easily infected