Etymology

bloody noun

Today it means: The bullfrog, or the sound made by it. Full definition →

Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

From "blood 'n' 'oun's", from "blood and wounds". Several sources, including Harrison Garman's 1892 A Synopsis of the Reptiles and Amphibians of Illinois, say the frog is so called because "its peculiar bass notes […] have a fancied resemblance to the expression" blood and wounds and other similar-sounding and similarly imposing phrases like "be drowned".

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.