scarification

Meanings

1. The act of scarifying: raking the ground harshly to remove weeds, etc.
2. A medieval form of penance in which the skin was damaged with a knife or hot iron.
3. The scratching, etching, burning / branding, or superficially cutting designs, pictures, or words into the skin as a permanent body modification.
4. A route of administration for some vaccinations and tests: rather than hypodermic injection, the site is inoculated intradermally not with any injection but rather only with small, shallow pricks or scratches; the needle is not hollow.

Etymology

From Old French scarificacion, from Late Latin scarificatio. See scarify for more.