abrasion

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin abrāsiō (“action of shaving off, a scraping”),^[2][3][4][5] a form recorded from the 12th century and in a British source from the 14th,^[2] from the past participial stem of Latin abrādō (“to scrape off”),^[3][5][2] with the noun ending -iō.^[2][4] The verb is formed from ab- (“off”) and rādō (“to scrape”).^[5][2][3] The American Heritage Dictionary refers it to Proto-Indo-European *rēd-.^[3] Barnhart allows a route through French,^[6] and the OED compares Middle French abrasion, found in one medical context in the late 15th century and then from 1611.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The scraping or wearing down of something by friction, about 1550, in Bieston's Bayte of Fortune.^[2][4] Barnhart, Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford date the word to the mid 17th century;^[6][5][7] the OED entry as revised in 2009 moves it back a century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a general term for rubbing away, sometimes figurative.^[2] Medicine took it up from 1612, in J. Cotta's Short Discouerie, for damage to a surface of the body,^[2] and in French this sense is recorded only from 1751.^[2] From 1684 it also meant the particles rubbed off, a sense now rare,^[2] and Johnson (1755) gave all three: the act of abrading, a wearing away of the mucus lining the stomach and guts, and matter worn off.^[8] A rubbed area or instance of abrading follows in 1724,^[2] although Etymonline dates "the result of abrasion" to 1740;^[5] the Shorter Oxford puts "a graze" in the mid 19th century.^[7] Geology has used it since 1811 for the wearing of rock by fragments carried by water, ice or wind.^[2][9]

Timeline

• c. 1550 – scraping or wearing down by friction.^[2][4] Barnhart and Etymonline date the word to the 1650s.^[6][5]
• 1612 – medicine, injury to a surface of the body.^[2]
• 1684 – material rubbed off (now rare).^[2]
• 1724 – an abraded area or an instance of abrasion.^[2] Etymonline dates this to 1740.^[5]
• 1811 – geology, wearing away of rock by carried fragments.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The process of scraping or wearing something down by friction: Grit in the bearing caused heavy abrasion.^[9][4][2]
2. A scraped place on the skin or on a surface; a graze: She had minor abrasions on one knee.^[9][7][2]
3. (medicine) The rubbing away of the surface layer of cells from the skin or a mucous membrane.^[4][2]
4. The mechanical wearing of tooth surfaces by chewing.^[4]
5. (geology) The wearing away of rock by fragments carried by water, ice or wind.^[9][2][7]
6. Material rubbed off; debris (rare).^[2][7][8]

Word family

• dermabrasion

Related words

• abrade
• abrasive
• raze

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins