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Pox-Marked

Disease
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Scarred by smallpox or another eruptive disease. It suggests survival visibly inscribed on the face or body.

Detailed Definition
Pox-marked describes the permanent scars left by smallpox and, by extension, the social consequences of a disease that remains visible after recovery. In poetry, such marks can signify endurance, exclusion, memory, or the refusal of idealized beauty. A pox-marked face may bear witness to epidemic history and unequal access to care. The phrase can also make a damaged landscape resemble scarred skin, linking personal suffering to collective catastrophe.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The pox-marked sailor laughed beneath the tavern lamp” uses visible scars to suggest a hard-lived history; “Pox-marked walls bore the scars of old shelling” transfers facial scarring to damaged architecture; A speaker might describe “a pox-marked moon, cratered and cold,” using the term for lunar texture; “The pox-marked face in the mirror refused the mask of youth” explores identity, survival, and stigma
Additional Notes
Pox-marked makes illness visible as permanent scar tissue. The term can explore survival, stigma, memory, and the body as a record of history.
Also Known As
Pockmarked Pock-Marked
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