Hickey
| Hickey | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Kiss mark, love bite, bug bite, love mark |
 | |
| Hickeys on the neck | |
| Pronunciation | |
| Specialty | Dermatology |
| Duration | 3–14 days |
| Causes | Suction on skin |
A hickey, also known as love bite, is a bruise or bruise-like, dark red or purple mark caused by sucking or biting the skin of a person, usually their neck.[1] While biting may be part of giving a hickey, sucking is sufficient to burst small superficial blood vessels under the skin to produce bruising. A hickey is sometimes used to mark someone as being the target of a partner's romantic affection or as belonging to them. While mostly considered safe, there have been some reports of serious medical complications as a result of receiving hickeys, such as strokes, vascular[2] or nerve damage.[3]
History
[edit]In a looser definition, the fourth-century Hindu text Kama Sutra contains references to biting with relation to kissing.[4]
As a term, "Love bite" is first attested in 1749 in John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure.[5] The later term 'hickey', originally used in American English and still predominantly in that dialect, is of unclear etymology.[6] Some sources suggests that it derives from the earlier meaning of "pimple, skin lesion" (c. 1915), itself perhaps a sense extension of "small gadget, device; any unspecified object" (1909).[7]
References
[edit]- ↑ "hickey". dictionary.cambridge.org. 2026-04-08. Retrieved 2026-04-14.
- ↑ Wu TY, Hsiao J, Wong EH. Love bites--an unusual cause of blunt internal carotid artery injury. N Z Med J. 2010 Nov 26;123(1326):112-5. PMID: 21326406.
- ↑ Carydakis C, de l'Isle-Boudon RB, Baulac M, Laplane D. Une cause inhabituelle de traumatisme du nerf spinal. La morsure amoureuse [An unusual cause of spinal nerve injury. A love bite]. Presse Med. 1985 May 18;14(20):1152. French. PMID: 3158985.
- ↑ Vatsyayana (1883). "Part II, Chapter V: On Biting". Kama Sutra. Translated by Burton, Richard Francis. p. 46. Archived from the original on 2025-07-02. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
- ↑ "love bite". Oxford English Dictionary (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/OED/38907269100. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ↑ "hickey". Oxford English Dictionary (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ↑ Harper, Douglas. "hickie". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
External links
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