inkblot

Etymology

ink + blot

noun

1. A blot of ink.
   A note from Deller with five pencil sketches attached of the new trade figures for Brittlekin -- two bloated looking children with inkblot eyes looking greedily at an enormous bar of peanut candy. 1922, Stephen Vincent Benét, Young People's Pride
2. (figurative) A dark, shapeless object.
   In the morning he watched with unseeing eyes the headland come out a shapeless inkblot against the thin light of the false dawn, ... 1916, Joseph Conrad, Within the Tides
3. (psychology) Any of the pictures used as stimuli in the Rorschach inkblot test.
   Look, I know that I have to do this, and I'll cooperate, and I'll look at your inkblots and everything, but I don't wanna talk about my life or my childhood or... anything, for that matter, actually. 1998, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV, episode 3.04)