injuries
Word family
Synonym discussion
Sense: noun/1
Injury is the most general word for physical damage to the body. A wound specifically means a break in the skin or flesh, usually caused by a knife, bullet, or sharp object — not by a fall or a crush. Harm is broader than injury and can apply to mental, emotional, or reputational damage as well as physical. Hurt is informal and focuses on the feeling of pain rather than the medical condition; you can say 'my back hurts' but a doctor would say 'you have a back injury.' Damage is rarely used for living bodies in natural English — we say 'the car was damaged' but 'the person was injured.' Lesion is a clinical term used by doctors for any abnormal change in body tissue, such as a cut, burn, or ulcer. For everyday use, injury is the safest and most natural choice.
Common collocations
Etymology
The word injury comes from Latin 'injuria', meaning 'injustice, wrong, insult'. This was formed from 'in-' (not) and 'jus' (right, law). It passed into English through Anglo-French 'injurie' in the 14th century. The original meaning was 'a wrongful act against someone's rights', and the physical-damage meaning developed later. The two meanings still coexist in modern English.
First known use
14th century
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2a