blood

Pronunciation

• IPA: /blʌd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English blod, inherited from Old English blōd,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *blōþą.^[2][3] Its cognates include Old Frisian blōd, Old Saxon blōd, Dutch bloed, German Blut and Old Norse blóð,^[3][5] and Gothic has blōþ.^[2][5] Its further origin is unknown according to the SOED and Hoad;^[5][6] some derive it from Proto-Indo-European *bhel- (“to thrive, bloom”), as “that which bursts out”, and Merriam-Webster relates it to Old English blōwan “to bloom”, but Boutkan finds no certain Indo-European etymology.^[2][7] Etymonline notes that Germanic seems to have avoided, perhaps from taboo, the older Indo-European words for blood, such as the source of Latin cruor (“gore”).^[2] Word Origins notes that the verb bleed is from the same root.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fluid circulating in the veins: Old English blōd, about 725, in Beowulf,^[3] or about 1000 in the OED.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Senses of inheritance and kinship emerged by the mid-13th century, as in Latin sanguis and Greek haîma.^[2] As the seat of the passions, blood has meant “temper, disposition” since about 1300,^[2] and a member of one's family or offspring since the late 14th century.^[2] God's blood! and similar oaths are from before 1541.^[9] A hot-blooded young man of fashion, a blood, is from the 1560s.^[2] The verb meant “to smear with blood” in the 1590s and “to give a hound its first taste of blood” from 1781.^[2][9] Blood out of a stone is from 1662.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English blōd (Beowulf).^[3]
• mid-13th century – kinship, descent.^[2]
• c. 1300 – temper, disposition.^[2]
• 1560s – a dashing young man.^[2]
• 1590s – verb, to smear with blood.^[2]
• 1662 – blood out of a stone.^[9]
• 1781 – verb, to blood a hound.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The red fluid circulated by the heart through the veins and arteries, carrying oxygen and nutrients.
2. Bloodshed; violence.
3. Descent, lineage, family: of royal blood.
4. Temperament, passion: bad blood.
5. (dated) A dashing young man.

Verb

1. To give a hunting dog its first taste of blood; to give a novice a first experience.

Word family

• bloodlike

Related words

• bleed
• bloody mary
• bless
• blessing
• bloody
• bloodhound
• bloodshed

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press