wen
n. countablen. a small, painless lump under the skin, usually on the head or neck. It is a very old word for what doctors now call a cyst.
n. a sebaceous cyst or similar benign integumentary swelling, particularly one located on the scalp or face. Historically used to describe any abnormal growth or, metaphorically, an overcrowded urban area.
The old man had a small wen on his forehead.
The doctor examined the wen behind the patient's ear and confirmed it was a harmless cyst.
In his nineteenth-century travelogues, William Cobbett famously referred to London as 'the Great Wen', viewing the rapidly expanding metropolis as a parasitic growth upon the English countryside.
From Middle English wen, wenne, from Old English wenn, wænn (“wen”), from Proto-Germanic *wanjaz. Cognate with Dutch wen (“goiter”), Low German Ween (“wen”), dialectal German Wenne (“wen”), Danish van, væne.
From Old English wynn.
Eye dialect spelling of when.
Primarily archaic or literary; in modern medical contexts, 'cyst' is the standard term.