Etymograph

English

bladder

Bladder comes from Middle English bladdre ‘the urinary bladder’, from Proto-West Germanic *blādrā ‘bubble, blister, something inflated’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- ‘to blow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blēdrǭ‘bubble, blister, something inflated’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blādrā‘bubble, blister, something inflated’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150blēdre‘blister, bladder’
  5. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150blæddre
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bladdre‘the urinary bladder’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1610bladder

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blēdrǭ‘bubble, blister, something inflated’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blādrā‘bubble, blister, something inflated’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150blēdre‘blister, bladder’
  5. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150blæddre
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bladdre‘the urinary bladder’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1610bladder

Earliest quotation: 1610, Giles Fletcher, Christ's Victorie and Triumph: “bladder'd up with pride of his own merit”.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- ‘to blow’

blow, inflation, blast, flavor, flux, bliss, fluent, confluence, fluency, feeble, inflate, fluvial, flatulence, soufflé, blithely, conflate, blare, bleat, blasé, 45 more

through Proto-Germanic *blēdrǭ ‘bubble, blister, something inflated’

blather, 1 more

Today it means

noun A flexible sac that can expand and contract and that holds liquids or gases.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- / bladder

Shirt and support for this word