Etymologically
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puncture

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈpʌŋktʃə/[1]
  • US: /ˈpʌŋkt͡ʃɚ/[1]

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
  • 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