Jump to content

Hickey

Listen to this article
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Hickey (injury))
Hickey
Other namesKiss mark, love bite, bug bite, love mark
Hickeys on the neck
Pronunciation
  • Hick-ee
SpecialtyDermatology
Duration3-14 days
Causessuction on skin

A hickey, hickie or sometimes referred to as a love bite in British English, is a bruise or bruise-like mark caused by biting or sucking the skin of a person, usually on their neck, arm, or earlobe.[citation needed] While biting may be part of giving a hickey, sucking is sufficient to burst small superficial blood vessels under the skin to produce bruising. A hickey is sometimes used to mark someone as being the target of a partner's romantic affection or as belonging to them.

Etymology

[edit]

The origin of the word is from its earlier meaning of "pimple, skin lesion" (c. 1915); perhaps a sense extension and spelling variation from the earlier word meaning "small gadget, device; any unspecified object" which has an unknown origin (1909).[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "hickie - Origin and meaning of hickie by Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com.
[edit]
Listen to this article (2 minutes)
Spoken Wikipedia icon
This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 26 March 2011 (2011-03-26), and does not reflect subsequent edits.