blister | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

15 entries found.

c. 1300, "thin vesicle on the skin containing watery matter," perhaps via Old French blestre "blister, lump, bump," from a Scandinavian source (compare Old Norse blastr "a blowing," dative blæstri "swelling"), or from Middle Dutch blyster "swelling;" all perhaps from PIE *bhlei- "to blow, swell," extension of root *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell."

blister (v.)

late 15c., "to become covered in blisters;," 1540s, "to raise blisters on," from blister (n.). Related: Blistered; blistering.

vesicle (n.)

"small, bladder-like structure," early 15c., from French vesicule, from Latin vesicula "little blister," diminutive of vesica "bladder, blister" (see ventral).

vesicular (adj.)

1715, from Modern Latin vesicularis, from vesicula "little blister," diminutive of vesica "bladder" (see ventral).

vesicant (n.)

"a blistering agent," 1660s, from Medieval Latin vesicantem (nominative vesicans), present participle of vesicare, from vesica "a bladder, a blister" (see ventral). From 1826 as an adjective.

bleb (n.)

c. 1600, "blister or swelling," imitative. Also used for "bubble" (1640s), "protuberance on a cell surface" (1962). Compare blob. "In relation to blob, bleb expresses a smaller swelling" [OED].

blob (n.)

"drop, globule," 1725, from a verb meaning "to make or mark with blobs" (early 15c.), which is perhaps related to bubble. The same noun was used 16c. in senses of "a bubble, a blister." Related: Blobby.

blain (n.)

Old English blegen "a sore, blister, pustule, inflammatory swelling on the body," from Proto-Germanic *blajinon "a swelling" (source also of Danish blegn, Dutch blein), from PIE *bhlei- "to swell," from root *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell."

pustule (n.)

"small, inflammatory sore or tumor containing pus," late 14c., from Old French pustule (13c.) and directly from Latin pustula "blister, pimple" (from PIE imitative root *pu- (1) "blow, swell," on notion of "inflated area;" source also of Sanskrit pupphusah "lung," Greek physa "breath, blast, wind, bubble," Lithuanian pučiu, pūsti "to blow, swell," Old Church Slavonic puchati "to blow"). Compare emphysema. Related: Pustulant; pustulate; pustulation.

bladder (n.)

Old English blædre (West Saxon), bledre (Anglian) "(urinary) bladder," also "blister, pimple," from Proto-Germanic *blodram "something inflated" (source also of Old Norse blaðra, Old Saxon bladara, Old High German blattara, German Blatter, Dutch blaar), from PIE root *bhle- "to blow." Extended senses from early 13c. from animal bladders used for buoyancy, storage, etc.

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