Meaning

noun something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from its surroundings

noun (pathology) an abnormal outgrowth or enlargement of some part of the body

originFrom Middle English, early 15th century, in sense “(action of) growing out (of something else)”. Borrowed from Latin excrescentia (“abnormal growths”), from excrescentem, from excrēscere, from ex- (“out”) (English ex-) + crēscere (“to grow”) (English crescent). Sense of “abnormal growth” from 1570s, from earlier excrescency (1540s in this sense).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0