blood

blood · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰleh₃-der.?
2. Proto-Germanic*blōþą
3. Proto-West Germanic*blōd
4. Old Englishblōd
5. Middle Englishblood
6. English todayblood

From Middle English blood, from Old English blōd, from Proto-West Germanic *blōd, from Proto-Germanic *blōþą, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ("to swell") + -ó- (thematic vowel) + -to (nominalizer), i.e. "that which bursts out". Cognate with Scots blude, bluid (“blood”), North Frisian blud, blödj, Blör (“blood”), Saterland Frisian Bloud (“blood”), West Frisian bloed (“blood”), Cimbrian pluat, pluut (“blood”), Dutch bloed (“blood”), German Blut (“blood”), German Low German Blood, Bloot (“blood”), Luxembourgish Blutt (“blood”), Vilamovian błüt (“blood”), Yiddish בלוט (blut, “blood”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish blod (“blood”), Faroese and Icelandic blóð (“blood”), Crimean Gothic plut (“blood”), Gothic 𐌱𐌻𐍉𐌸 (blōþ, “blood”).

Blood · noun²

When the gang was formed, the term blood, from blood brother, was common street slang, used in the 1960s by young Black and Hispanic men and returning veterans from the Vietnam War to refer to friends.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• 1622–1780 To make eager for bloodshed or combat; to incite or enrage against.