Etymologically
Log in

bloodshed

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 23:52. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈblʌdˌʃɛd/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English blood + shed, with the past participle of the verb, modelled on the phrase “to shed blood”.[2][3][4][5] Etymonline traces the verbal phrase to late Old English, as in "there was much blood shed".[3] The noun bloodshedding is older, recorded from about 1300.[3][2] The verb shed is sheden, from Old English sceadan (“to divide, separate”).[3][4] The OED suggests that the adjective use, "bloodshot", is perhaps due to association with bloodshot.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The shedding of the blood of others; slaughter, murder: before 1450, in Lovelich's Merlin,[2] about 1400 in Etymonline.[3] Merriam-Webster dates it to the 15th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

From 1539 the word was also used of a single act of bloodshed, a murder, a sense now rare,[2] and since 1547 of the shedding of one's own blood, originally and chiefly of Christ's.[2][5] Johnson (1755) gave two senses, "the crime of blood, or murder" and "slaughter".[6] In the 17th and 18th centuries bloodshed could also mean the same as bloodshot, both as a noun, of blood in the white of the eye, and as an adjective.[2][5]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – bloodshedding, the earlier noun.[3]
  • before 1450 – the shedding of others' blood; slaughter.[2]
  • 1539 – an act of bloodshed; a murder.[2]
  • 1547 – the shedding of one's own blood.[2]
  • 1583 – adjective, bloodshot.[2]
  • 1652 – blood in the conjunctiva of the eye (obsolete by 1880).[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The killing or wounding of people, especially in war or violent conflict; slaughter or carnage: The truce ended weeks of bloodshed in the region.[7][4][8][2]
  2. The shedding or spilling of blood.[4][8][2]
  3. (now rare) A single act of bloodshed; a murder.[2][5]
  4. (archaic) The shedding of one's own blood, especially that of Christ.[2][5]

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin