'bandage' originates from Old French, specifically the word 'bander'/'bandage', where 'band-' meant 'to bind' or 'a band/tie'.

'bandage' changed from Old French 'bander' (to bind) and Old French/Medieval French 'bandage' (a binding) into Middle English forms and eventually became the modern English word 'bandage'. The element 'band-' is related to Germanic words for 'band' or 'bond'.

Initially, it referred to the act of binding or a band used to bind; over time it came to mean both the dressing used on a wound and the action of applying that dressing ('bandaging').