bloody.
Covered in blood.
Meaning & usage
Covered in blood.
All that remained of his right hand after the accident was a bloody stump.
Characterised by bloodshed.
There have been bloody battles between the two tribes.
Used as an intensifier.
Traffic in central London was a bloody mess this morning.
Badly behaved; unpleasant; beastly.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English blody, blodi, from Old English blōdiġ, blōdeġ (“bloody”), from Proto-West Germanic *blōdag, from Proto-Germanic *blōþagaz (“bloody”), equivalent to blood + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian bläidich, blöidig, blouderch (“bloody”), West Frisian bloedich (“bloody”), Dutch bloedig (“bloody”), German Low German blödig (“bloody”), German blutig (“bloody”), Danish blodig (“bloody”), Swedish blodig (“bloody”), Faroese blóðigur (“bloody”), Icelandic blóðugur (“bloody”). See Wikipedia for thoughts on sense evolution.
Used to express anger, annoyance, or shock, or for emphasis.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English blody, blodi, from Old English blōdiġ, blōdeġ (“bloody”), from Proto-West Germanic *blōdag, from Proto-Germanic *blōþagaz (“bloody”), equivalent to blood + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian bläidich, blöidig, blouderch (“bloody”), West Frisian bloedich (“bloody”), Dutch bloedig (“bloody”), German Low German blödig (“bloody”), German blutig (“bloody”), Danish blodig (“bloody”), Swedish blodig (“bloody”), Faroese blóðigur (“bloody”), Icelandic blóðugur (“bloody”). See Wikipedia for thoughts on sense evolution.
To stain with blood.
The butcher often bloodied his apron in the course of his work.
To draw blood from (one's opponent) in a fight.
To demonstrably harm (the cause of an opponent).
Where this word comes from
From Middle English *blodien, *blodegen (attested as blodeke, bi-blodgi), from Old English blōdgian, blōdegian (“to bloody, make bloody”), from Proto-West Germanic *blōdagōn (“to make bloody”), from Proto-Germanic *blōþagōną (“to make bloody”). Cognate with Middle High German bluotigen (“to make bloody”), Swedish blodga (“to make bloody”), Icelandic blóðga (“to bloody”).
Ellipsis of bloody mary.
Where this word comes from
Clipping of bloody mary.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.