bruise

bruise — noun

1. a dark mark on skin or on soft fruit, caused by a hit or pressure that does not

1.nounB2
Definition

a dark mark on skin or on soft fruit, caused by a hit or pressure that does not break the surface.

Example

After practice, Ravi found a purple bruise above his left ankle.

bruise on a body part

A bruise spread across Mei's arm after the bus door closed.

Common collocations
  • purple bruise
  • deep bruise
  • bruise on your knee
  • cuts and bruises
Synonyms
  • contusion

    medical word used in reports or by doctors

  • mark

    broader and less specific about cause

  • black eye

    a special type of bruise around the eye

Grammar Patterns

a bruise on + body part

a bruise on + fruit

Usage Note

Often used with body parts after a fall or hit, but it can also name the damaged dark spot on soft fruit. Common patterns are 'a bruise on his knee' and 'bruises on the peaches'.

Common Mistakes

The ball left a cut on his leg.
The ball left a bruise on his leg.
a bruise changes the colour under the skin but does not open it.

bruise — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

For an everyday dark mark under the skin, bruise is the normal word. Contusion is the medical term, so it appears more often in hospital notes than in daily conversation. A cut is different because the skin opens, while a scratch is only light surface damage from rubbing or something sharp. Swelling often comes with a bruise, but it names the area getting bigger, not the dark colour itself. For fruit, bruise also sounds natural, while damage is broader and less exact. You can say 'I have a bruise on my knee,' but a doctor may write 'knee contusion' in a report.

contusioncut ↗scratch ↗swellingdamage ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • cuts and bruises

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Bruise goes back to Old English brysan, a verb meaning 'crush or injure with a blow'. In Middle English it was strengthened by a related Old French verb, bruisier, meaning 'break'. The noun came later from the verb, so the word first described the act of hitting or crushing and then the dark mark left behind.