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You are here: Home / Language / How Did the Word “Stigma” For a Negative Perception Originate and What Does the Term Mean?

How Did the Word “Stigma” For a Negative Perception Originate and What Does the Term Mean?

June 24, 2020 by Karen Hill

People held in low esteem are stigmatized for their actions by some outward sign or symbol of weakness.

Although stigma is a Greek word meaning “puncture,” we get the word from the Romans, who called the scar branded on a slave’s forehead a stigma.

In Hawthome’s The Scarlet Letter, the letter A stigmatized Hester Prynne and made a public example of her adultery.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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