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sprain

UK/spɹeɪn/US/spɹeɪn/
nounB1+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,972 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: sprains

A sprain is a twisted joint that swells but is not broken. A sprained ankle, a bad sprain, sprain your wrist.

It is a stretched or torn ligament, where a strain is a muscle or tendon — the two words are constantly swapped. A sprain can hurt more than a break, and only an x-ray settles which it is. The origin of the word is unknown.

www.scientificanimations.com · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of sprain

  1. 1nounsprainA twisted joint that swells but is not broken.B1+

    “The doctor said my swollen wrist was only a sprain and would heal in a few weeks.”

sprain is an injury.

Where it comes from

First recorded in 1601; the further origin is unknown, possibly from a French verb meaning to squeeze out.

  1. Latin

    exprimo — to squeeze out, express

  2. Middle French

    espraindre — to squeeze or press out

  3. English, today

    sprain

Origin unknown. Noun attested since 1601; verb attested 1622. Possibly borrowed from Middle French espraindre (“to squeeze or press out”), from Latin exprimo (“to squeeze out, express”), in which case cognate to express.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Body & Health

Practise this word

sprain in the wild

  • The majority of sprains are mild, causing minor swelling and bruising that can be resolved with conservative treatment, typically summarized as RICE: rest, ice, compression, elevation.

    Sprain

  • The equivalent injury to a ligament is a sprain.

    Strain (injury)

  • A sprained ankle (twisted ankle, rolled ankle, turned ankle, etc.) is an injury where a sprain occurs on one or more ligaments of the ankle.

    Sprained ankle

  • Ankle sprains are also among the most common acute dance injuries, often causing pain around the ankle and, in more severe cases, swelling and bruising.

    Sprained ankle

  • High ankle sprains are described as high because they are located above the ankle.

    High ankle sprain

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.