Definition of "paronychia" []

• Inflammation of the tissue surrounding a fingernail or toenail. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Those infections, called paronychia, are caused by nibbling the skin around the fingernails, picking hangnails, trimming the cuticle too closely, wearing artificial nails, or using harsh cleansers or steel wool without wearing gloves."
• "For example, targeted chemotherapy drugs (that zone in on one area of the body)—such as Taxol, for breast cancer—can cause fingernails and cuticles to become swollen and inflamed (a nail disease called paronychia)."
• "Damage it and you risk the nasty infection paronychia, says Bailey."