wound
Definitions
General English
- noun a cut made on someone’s body, usually in fighting
- verb to hurt someone badly by cutting into their flesh
- verb to hurt someone’s feelings
Law
- noun a cut done to the skin of a person
- verb to injure or to hurt someone in such a way that his or her skin is cut
Medical
- noun damage to external tissue which allows blood to escape
- verb to harm someone by making a hole in the tissue of the body
Military
- noun serious injury, usually involving a cut or other penetration of the skin and flesh
Origin & History of “wound”
Wound is a widespread Germanic word, with relatives in German wunde, Dutch wond, and Icelandic und (Danish vunde is a reborrowing from Low German). Its ultimate origins are uncertain, but it has been speculated that it may go back to an Indo-European base *wen-, which also produced Welsh gwanu ‘stab’.
