Stigma

The word stigma has its origins in the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root steig (to stick, to pierce). Greek and Latin both used the word stigma to refer to a mark, puncture, tattoo, or brand made by a pointed instrument.
 
The verb ‘to stigmatize’, meaning to brand or tattoo, is from the 1580s.
 
The noun stigma (a mark made on the skin by burning with a hot iron) came to English in the 1590s unchanged from its Greek and Latin origins. In such cases, a stigma was a permanent mark of disgrace on a person’s body.
 
The word stigmatism, meaning a branding, is from the 1660s. Stigmatism meaning the condition of being affected with stigmata (13th century: wounds which seemed to appear supernaturally on a person's body) is from 1897.
 
The word ‘astigmatism’, a medical term coined in 1849, refers to a defect in the structure of the eye whereby the rays of light do not converge to a point upon the retina. From Greek a- (without) + stigmatos (a point, a spot) = without a spot; i.e., unfocused.
 
The concept of stigma as a social phenomenon first appeared in the late 19th century; e.g., in an 1895 study by the sociologist Emile Durkheim. Social stigmas occur in many forms. For example, individuals who are stigmatized by culture, gender, race, religion, illness, or disease usually feel different from and devalued by others.
 
Today, a stigma is often characterized by shame or disgrace, a scar burned onto a person’s mind rather than onto their body.
 
A stigma is also part of a plant, but that’s another story.
 
(I am reminded of similarities between the words stigma and trauma. Both have their origins in ancient words related to physical damage and pain. Seemingly only in the 20th century did these words also come to mean mental damage and pain.)
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_stigma
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