n.
Pronunciation: ' pin-t ə , - ˌ tä
Function: noun
Etymology: American Spanish, from Spanish, spot, mark, from Vulgar Latin *pincta
Date: 1825
: a chronic skin disease that is endemic in tropical America, that occurs successively as an initial papule, a generalized eruption, and a patchy loss of pigment, and that is caused by a treponemal spirochete ( Treponema careteum ) morphologically indistinguishable from the causative agent of syphilis