sprain

Etymology

The origin is uncertain or unknown.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} Skeat, Klein and the Century Dictionary as reported by Etymonline connect it with Old French espreindre (“to press, wring, squeeze out”), which is from Latin exprimō (“to press out”), from ex- (“out”) and premō (“to press”), the source of press.^[10][11][4] Weekley accepts this only as apparent, since the retention of s- is anomalous for a word first recorded about 1600,^[12] and Ayto says only that the Latin verb is perhaps the source.^[13] Barnhart finds the link doubtful because of the late date and the special meaning,^[3] Etymonline finds the sense development difficult,^[4] and the OED calls the connection unclear.^[2] Johnson took the verb to be a corruption of strain.^[14] The OED derives the noun from the verb, although the noun is recorded first,^[2] while Barnhart derives the verb from the noun.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A violent twist or wrench of a joint: 1601, in P. Holland's translation of Pliny's Natural History.^[2][3][6] Etymonline dates the noun to about 1600.^[4] The verb follows in 1622, in J. Mabbe's translation of Alemán's Rogue,^[2][3][6] and Etymonline dates it to the 1620s, implied in sprained.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it precisely as a stretching of the ligaments without dislocation of the joint,^[14] a definition that dictionaries still use.^[6][7] From 1785, in Grose's dictionary of vulgar language, to sprain one's ankle was a euphemism for a woman's being seduced and made pregnant, now only historical.^[2][7] The noun also has a figurative use.^[2] Since 1805 it has been used without an article for the condition.^[2]

Timeline

• 1601 – noun, a severe wrench of the ligaments or muscles of a joint.^[2][3][6]
• 1622 – verb, to wrench a part of the body so as to cause pain.^[2][3][6]
• 1785 – to sprain one's ankle, euphemism for a woman's being seduced.^[2]
• 1805 – noun, without an article, the condition of being sprained.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An injury from a sudden, violent twist of a joint, which stretches or tears the ligaments and causes swelling: He missed the match with a wrist sprain.^[15][6][2]

Verb

1. To injure a joint by twisting or wrenching its ligaments, without dislocation: She sprained her thumb on the climbing wall.^[15][6][2]

Related words

• strain
• press
• express

Usage notes

A rare verb sprain, to sprinkle, and in agriculture to sow seed by hand, is recorded from about 1440 and has a separate source: it is apparently a back-formation from the past forms of the obsolete verb sprengen.^[2][7][6] The English Dialect Dictionary records it as obsolete in Yorkshire and Hertfordshire.^[16] Merriam-Webster's entry for the injury directs the reader to compare strain.^[6]

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)