Maim
/meɪm/noun
To injure someone so that part of the body is permanently damaged or useless.
Did you know?In Middle English, *maim* was a legal term for permanent injury, and its history is tangled with old French law vocabulary that treated the body almost like property damage.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*mei-
“to change, exchange, or alter”
Latin
Latin
mūtāre
“to change, alter”
Late Latin
Latin
mutilāre
“to maim, cut off, mutilate”
Old French
Old French
mahaignier
“to maim or cripple”
Middle English
English
mayme / maime
“to injure so as to disable permanently”
Modern English
English
maim
“to permanently injure a person or limb”