weal
Noun: 1. A raised, red mark on the skin, typically caused by a blow or by an allergic reaction: A weal is a linear, swollen ridge on the skin's surface, often resulting from physical impact (like a whip or a slap) or from certain skin conditions. 2. (Archaic) Well-being, prosperity, or happiness: This older, literary meaning refers to a state of general good fortune, welfare, or the common good of a group.
- Noun (Physical Mark):
- The harsh rope left a painful weal on his wrist.
- She developed itchy weals on her arm after touching the plant.
- Noun (Archaic: Well-being):
- The king was concerned for the public weal. (This usage is now rare and formal/literary.)
- "In weal and woe": An archaic or literary phrase meaning "in good times and bad times," or "through prosperity and adversity."
- They promised to support each other in weal and woe.
- Welt (noun): A very close synonym for the physical mark meaning of "weal." It can also be a verb meaning to raise such a mark.
- Wheal (noun): A medical term often used interchangeably with "weal" to describe a specific type of skin lesion, such as the raised area in hives (urticaria).
- Weal-begone (adj, archaic): Afflicted by misfortune. (Extremely rare.)
- For the physical mark: Wale, welt, wheal, stripe, ridge.
- For the archaic meaning (well-being): Welfare, good, benefit, prosperity, commonwealth.
- For the archaic meaning (well-being): Woe, misery, adversity, ill-being.
The primary and most common modern meaning of "weal" is the physical mark on the skin. The meaning related to "well-being" is considered archaic and is almost exclusively found in historical texts, formal proclamations, or fixed phrases like "the common weal." In contemporary English, "welfare" or "well-being" are the standard terms for this concept.
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a raised mark on the skin (as produced by the blow of a whip); characteristic of many allergic reactions
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