Meanings
- not comparableThat draws off the blood of another animal, or a person.
Bedbugs win neither praise for their sophisticated technique, nor very much respect for the fact that they don’t carry diseases, as most bloodsucking human ectoparasites do.
2010 August 7, May Berenbaum, “This Bedbug’s Life”, in The New York Times - broadlynot comparableparasitic, leechlike or freeloading
plural bloodsuckings
- countableuncountableParasitic, leechlike behavior.
Economic blood-sucking of the Indian peoples, who are forced to pay immense sums of money to sustain rich Indian Civil Servants
1940, Basil Mathews, “Worldwide reaction to events in India”, in The Asiatic Review, volume 36, page 255
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivedrawing blood from the body of another
adjectiveof plants or persons; having the nature or habits of a parasite or leech; living off another
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰleh₃-der.?
- Proto-Germanic*blōþą
- Proto-West Germanic*blōd
- Old Englishblōd
- Middle Englishblood
- Englishblood
- Englishsucking
- Englishbloodsucking
Translations
Danish blodsugende
- blodsugendethat draws off blood
Hungarian vérszívó
- vérszívóthat draws off blood
Norwegian Bokmål blodsugende
- blodsugendethat draws off blood
Swedish blodsugande
- blodsugandethat draws off blood
Cite this entry
bloodsucking. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bloodsucking
“bloodsucking.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bloodsucking. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bloodsucking,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bloodsucking.
Source: bloodsucking on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.