bandage

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French bandage,^[2][3][4] recorded in French from the 16th century,^[5] formed from bande (“band, strip”) and the suffix -age.^[6][3][7][8] Barnhart and Etymonline derive it from Old French bander (“to bind”), from bande (“a strip”),^[2][5] the source of band in the sense of a strip.^[6][2][9] Klein traces the French noun through bende and Medieval Latin benda (“band”) to a Germanic source related to the English word,^[10] and Etymonline traces the Old French noun to Proto-Germanic *bindaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bhendh- (“to bind”).^[5] The OED notes that it was originally a term of surgery.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A strip of woven material used to bind up a wound, sore or broken limb: 1599, in a translation of Gaebelkhover's Boock of Physicke.^[6][2][3]

Semantic evolution

From surgery the word spread to any strip of flexible material used to bind or cover, especially a blindfold (1715),^[6] and Johnson (1755) defined it as "something bound over another", quoting Addison's figure of Zeal with a bandage over her eyes.^[11] It was also used of a band strengthening a structure (1766, now archaic) and of a wrap for a horse's legs (1828).^[6] The dates of the verb differ widely: the OED records it from 1642,^[6] Merriam-Webster from 1730,^[3] Etymonline from 1734, implied in bandaging,^[5] and Barnhart from 1774, in Goldsmith's History of the Earth and Animated Nature.^[2]

Timeline

• 1599 – a strip used to bind up a wound, in surgery.^[6][2][3]
• 1642 – verb, to bind up with a bandage.^[6] Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1730, Etymonline to 1734 and Barnhart to 1774.^[3][5][2]
• 1715 – a strip for binding or covering, especially a blindfold.^[6]
• 1766 – a band that strengthens a structure (archaic).^[6]
• 1828 – a wrap for a horse's legs.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A strip of gauze or other material used to cover a wound, hold a dressing in place or support an injured part: The nurse wound a bandage round his sprained wrist.^[12][3][6]
2. A strip of soft material used for binding or covering, such as a blindfold.^[12][6]

Verb

1. To bind, cover or dress with a bandage: She bandaged the puppy's paw.^[12][3][6]

Word family

• bandager
• rebandage
• unbandage
• adhesive bandage

Related words

• band
• bind

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins