Wart

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /wɔːt/
• US IPA: /wɔːɹt/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t

Origin

From Old English wearte, from Proto-Germanic *wartǭ. Cognate with Dutch wrat, German Warze, Swedish vårta.

Full definition of wart

Noun

1. (pathology) A type of deformed growth occurring on the skin caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).
2. Any similar growth occurring in plants or animals, such as the parotoid glands in the back of toads.
3. (computing, programming, slang, derogatory) Any of the prefixes used in Hungarian notation.
• 1998, "Chris Ahlstrom", Hungarian notation (on newsgroup microsoft.public.vc.language)Hungarian warts suck big time! If you need them, your functions are too big and your class interface is much too fat.
• 2002, "Linonut", Computer Science (on newsgroup comp.os.linux.advocacy)Far easier to not use warts in the first place. Even if a wart is present, you still have to verify the variable's declaration anyway, if you're a diligent maintenance programmer.

Derived terms