plica polonica

English

Etymology

From Latin plica (“plica”) + feminine singular form of Polonicus (“Polish”).

Noun

plica polonica (uncountable)

1. (medicine, now chiefly historical) A condition characterised by matted and unhygienic hair. [from 17th c.]
   • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographica, section XXXII:

     And perhaps the very essence of the Plica Polonica may be the hairs growing hollow, and of an unnatural constitution.