Curio
Today

bladder

BLAD-er · noun

Proto-GermanicProto-West GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Origin

From Middle English bladdre, bleddre, bladder, bledder, from Old English blæddre, a variant of blǣdre, blēdre meaning 'blister, bladder,' from Proto-West Germanic *blādrā, from Proto-Germanic *blēdrǭ, *bladrǭ, meaning 'blister, bladder.'

Journey

The Old English form already carried both senses — 'blister' and 'bladder' — showing the word long described any thin-skinned, fluid-filled swelling rather than one specific body part.

Related words

The facts don't name a specific surviving cognate beyond the Germanic root forms themselves, so no further connection can be drawn here.

More words

From Proto-West Germanic

Nearby, A–Z

All words A–Z →