blood-feeding
|blood-feed-ing|
🇺🇸
/ˈblʌdˌfidɪŋ/
🇬🇧
/ˈblʌdˌfiːdɪŋ/
(blood-feed)
feeding on blood
Etymology
'blood-feeding' originates from Modern English as a compound of 'blood' and 'feed' with the suffix '-ing'; 'blood' ultimately comes from Old English 'blōd' (meaning 'blood'), and 'feed' comes from Old English 'fēdan' (meaning 'to give food, nourish').
'blood' changed from Old English 'blōd' and 'feed' from Old English 'fēdan'; in Middle English related forms (e.g. 'bleod', 'feden') combined in compounding processes and eventually produced Modern English compounds such as 'blood-feed' and the gerund/participle 'blood-feeding'.
Originally the elements meant 'blood' and 'to give food/nourish'; combined with '-ing' the compound came to mean specifically 'the act of feeding on blood' (this specific sense developed within natural-history and medical contexts).
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the act or process of feeding on blood; hematophagy (the behavior or event of taking blood from a host).
The mosquito's blood-feeding usually takes place at night.
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Adjective 1
feeding on blood; describing an organism that obtains nourishment by sucking or ingesting blood (hematophagous).
Many parasites, such as ticks and mosquitoes, are blood-feeding organisms.
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Last updated: 2026/01/13 14:45