Stigma
From Free net encyclopedia
The word stigma (Greek στíγμα: "mark" or "spot"; plural: stigmata, στíγματα) has several meanings. The term originated in reference to what these bodily signs (burnt or cut into the flesh by the master of as punishment) signified that the marked person was a slave, a criminal, or traitor; someone of flawed moral status to be avoided, especially in public.
In later Christian times it came to have two extra layers of metaphor, namely the bodily signs of holy grace (eruptive blossoms on the skin); and the medical reference to this religious marking as signs of physical disorder, see Stigmata (plural form) for more. Image:Stigma3475.jpg In botany:
- a part of the female organ of a flower, essentially the terminal part of a pistil
- a spiracle or other small spot.
In zoology:
- One of the external openings of the tracheae of insects, myriapods, and other arthropods; a spiracle.
- One of the apertures of the pulmonary sacs of arachnids.
- One of the apertures of the gill of an ascidian, and of Amphioxus.
- Spots on the wings of Lepidoptera.
Other uses:
- Social stigma, a "mark of infamy or disgrace; sign of moral blemish; stain or reproach caused by dishonorable conduct; reproachful characterization" (Webster, 1913).
- Stigma (anatomy), a small spot, mark, scar, or a minute hole; applied especially to a spot on the outer surface of a Graafian follicle, and to spots of intercellular substance in scaly epithelium, or to minute holes in such spots.
- Stigma (pathology), a red speck upon the skin, produced either by the extravasation of blood, as in the bloody sweat characteristic of certain varieties of religious ecstasy, or by capillary congestion, as in the case of drunkards.
- Stigma (geometry), a point so connected by any law whatever with another point, called an index, that as the index moves in any manner in a plane the first point or stigma moves in a determinate way in the same plane.
- A mark such as that made with a branding iron
- Stigma (letter), the name of a ligature of the Greek letters sigma and tau, used also for the number 6 in Greek numerals.
- Another name for the Koppa, an obsolete letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, derived from the Greek alphabet letter Qoppa.
- "Stigma (Enterprise episode)", a second season episode of Star Trek: Enterprise.
- Stigma (album), an album recorded by the band EMF in 1992
See also
This page contains text taken from the public domain 1913 Webster's Dictionary, which can be found online: link