What does cataplasm mean?
A cataplasm is a soft, moist mass — traditionally made from crushed or boiled plants such as linseed, comfrey, or mustard — applied to the body, usually wrapped in cloth, as a remedy for inflammation, pain, or localized infection. It is essentially the formal, technical name for what most people know as a poultice. The word belongs mainly to historical medicine, pharmacology, and traditional herbal practice; a modern reader is most likely to meet it in old medical texts, fantasy fiction, or accounts of folk remedies, where a healer might apply a warm cataplasm to a sprained joint or festering sore. Its connotations are therefore old-fashioned and therapeutic rather than clinical, evoking kitchens and sickbeds more than hospitals or pharmacies. Although largely displaced by modern dressings and anti-inflammatory treatments, the word survives as a precise and evocative label for one of humanity's oldest forms of topical treatment.
nounA soft, moist mass of plant matter or other material, typically wrapped in cloth, applied to the body as a poultice to relieve inflammation, infection, or pain. A medical dressing or plaster made from herbs or other substances spread on a cloth and applied hot to the skin.
- A soft moist mass of plant material or other substance, usually wrapped in cloth, applied to the body to soothe inflammation or draw out infection (a poultice).
"The herbalist applied a warm cataplasm of crushed comfrey leaves to the swollen ankle."
"The village healer prepared a steaming cataplasm of mustard seeds and flour for the aching chest."
"In her thesis on medieval medicine she catalogued dozens of recipes for herbal cataplasms."
Standard plural; used when referring to multiple applications or recipes.
"Medieval manuscripts record countless cataplasms brewed from garden herbs."
Before modern pharmacies, a cataplasm of mashed herbs was often the only medicine between an inflamed wound and a very bad week.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cataplasm
Cataplasm comes from the Greek kataplasma, meaning 'a plaster or poultice', derived from kataplassein, 'to plaster over', formed from kata- ('down') and plassein ('to mould or form'). The word passed into Latin and entered English in the early modern period, appearing in medical writing by the sixteenth century. It shares its Greek root plassein with words such as plasma and plastic.
Related word forms
How cataplasm is actually used
Chiefly used in historical, literary, or specialist herbal-medicine contexts; in everyday modern English 'poultice' is far more common. Plural: cataplasms.
Easily confused with cataplasm
A poultice is the general everyday term for a soft moist mass applied to the body; cataplasm is a more technical, chiefly historical term for the same thing.