- trauma
- 1656 (implied in traumatic), "physical wound," from Gk. trauma "wound," from PIE *tro-, *trau-, from base *tere- "to rub, turn" (see throw (v.)). Sense of "psychic wound, unpleasant experience which causes abnormal stress" is implied in traumatic, in psychological jargon 1889. Traumatize in the psychological sense is attested from 1949.