puncture

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English puncture,^[2] borrowed from Late Latin pūnctūra (“a pricking, a puncture”),^[3][4][5][2] which was used in medieval Latin for a pointed object's penetration, a wound made by piercing and a pricking pain.^[6] It is formed from pūnctus, the past participle of pungō (“to prick, pierce”),^[3][4][5][7] and the suffix -ūra,^[8][9] from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *peuk- (“to prick”).^[5][3] The same Latin verb is the source of pungent.^[10][7] The verb was formed from the noun in English.^[6][11][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small wound or perforation, as of a nerve, and the act of pricking: before 1400, in an English translation of Lanfranc's surgery.^[6][2] Barnhart dates the noun to 1392,^[4] and Etymonline to the late 14th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word belonged to surgery: it was used of wounds of the nerves, the sting or bite of a venomous creature, stitching a wound with a needle and a pricking feeling.^[2] The last sense, a pricking pain or a stab of desire, lasted until 1780.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as a small prick or a hole made with a very sharp point.^[12] The verb appears in 1675,^[6][9] although Barnhart dates it to 1699 and Etymonline to the 1690s.^[4][5] In the 1770s it could also mean to tattoo,^[6] and the bicycle craze of the 1890s brought the sense of a hole in a pneumatic tyre (1892) and of the tyre losing air (1891, as a verb).^[6] Doctors used it from 1895 for drawing off fluid through a hollow needle, as in a lumbar puncture.^[6][11] The figurative verb, to deflate something as if it were a punctured balloon, is recorded from 1875.^[6][9]

Timeline

• before 1400 – the act of pricking or piercing; a small wound.^[6][2] Barnhart dates the noun to 1392.^[4]
• before 1425 – a hole or mark made by pricking; a pricking pain (obsolete by 1780).^[6]
• 1675 – verb, to pierce with a sharp point.^[6][9]
• 1777 – verb, to tattoo.^[6]
• 1875 – figurative verb, to deflate or debunk.^[6]
• 1891 – verb, of a tyre, to be punctured.^[6]
• 1892 – a hole in a pneumatic tyre.^[6]
• 1895 – in medicine, drawing off fluid through a hollow needle.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small hole or wound made by something sharp: a puncture from a rose thorn.^[13][9][6]
2. A small hole in a tyre that lets the air escape: They had a puncture ten miles from home.^[13][6][9]
3. The act of piercing or perforating something.^[13][9][6]
4. In medicine, the insertion of a hollow needle to draw off fluid or tissue, as in a lumbar puncture.^[11][6]
5. (obsolete, 1425–1780) A pricking sensation or pain.^[6][2]

Verb

1. To make a hole in something with a sharp point: The nail punctured the bike's front tyre.^[13][9][6]
2. Of a tyre, to be punctured; to lose air.^[13][6]
3. To deflate or make something seem foolish, as if by piercing it: Her remark punctured his self-importance.^[13][9][6]

Word family

• puncturable
• punctureless
• puncturer
• micropuncture
• venipuncture
• acupuncture
• lumbar puncture
• puncture vine

Related words

• pungent
• point
• punctual
• punctuate
• compunction

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
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 p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins