Whelps are Puppies
A lot of people use the word whelp informally in the sense of “a raised place on the skin.”
On the left side [of my face] … I had over 20 whelps (not bumps), and they were red and hot.
Recently my 12 year old daughter has been breaking out in large whelps.
I have red whelps on my arm my side and down my legs
Both the OED and Merriam-Webster acknowledge the dialect use of “whelp” to mean “welt,” but seeing the nonstandard use in a formal context is jarring, as in this example from a news item written by a reporter for a state daily:
[the husband] grabbed a broom and hit her on the back, leaving a large red whelp…
whelp: 1. The young of the dog. Now little used, superseded by puppy.
welt: a raised area, ridge, or seam on the body surface (as from scarring or a blow)
The word welt originated as a shoemaking term for a rolled over strip of leather. The meaning “ridge on the skin from a wound” is first recorded 1800.
Whelp can also be used as a verb, either transitively or intransitively:
Red Girl whelped a litter of seven puppies.
Three of the fox hounds whelped on the same day.
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4 Responses to “Whelps are Puppies”
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BigWords88
Whelp has, unsurprisingly, been adopted into slang. In the UK (esp. Scotland) it is used to refer to other people’s children, though not in a particularly flattering manner.
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Karla
Wow. I can understand kids using “whelp” in place of “welt” but a reporter?? Good grief.
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G.S.
I always thought that a whelp was more of a rash, and a welt was an injury. I love learning stuff like this!
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CM
It makes me nuts to see the word “whelps” as a description of an allergic reaction – on a MEDICAL RECORD for pup’s sake! do you mean the patient has puppies on his/her skin, or is he/she birthing puppies?
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