Bruise
/bruːz/noun
A mark caused by bleeding under the skin after an impact.
Did you know?Bruise comes through Old French from a Germanic root meaning “to crush,” so the word itself carries the memory of impact before the skin ever shows it.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*brūsaną
“to crush, bruise, break”
Old French
OF
bruisier
“to crush, break, damage”
Middle English
ME
brusen
“to crush, break, injure”
15th Century
English
bruise
“to injure by crushing or breaking the skin”
Modern English
English
bruise
“a mark caused by bleeding under the skin after an impact”