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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

callus.

A hardened area of the skin (especially on the foot or hand) caused by repeated friction, wear or use.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈkæləs/General-American, UK
  1. A hardened area of the skin (especially on the foot or hand) caused by repeated friction, wear or use.

    countable · uncountable
  2. The material of repair in fractures of bone; a substance exuded at the site of fracture, which is at first soft or cartilaginous in consistency, but is ultimately converted into true bone and unites the fragments into a single piece.

    countable · uncountable
  3. The new formation over the end of a cutting, before it puts out rootlets.

    countable · uncountable
  4. In orchids, a fleshy outgrowth from the labellum.

    countable · uncountable
  5. In grasses, a hardened extension from the base of a floret, which may or may not elongate and is often covered in hairs or bristles.

    countable · uncountable
  6. A shining area on the frons of many species of Tabanomorpha (horse flies and relatives).

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Latin callum (“hard skin”). Displaced Old English wearr.

verb/ˈkæləs/General-American, UK
  1. To form such hardened tissue.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Latin callum (“hard skin”). Displaced Old English wearr.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.