injure

Injure is a verb that primarily means to cause physical harm or damage to a person or an animal. It can also be used more broadly to describe harm to something non-living, such as a body part or a field of interest. The term is typically transitive, as in “to injure someone,” and its past tense is injured, with the present participle form injuring. The noun form is injury, referring to the harm itself or to a wound.

Etymology of injure traces back to Old French injure, from Latin iniuria, meaning injustice or injury. The word entered English in the late medieval period and has maintained the distinction between physical harm (injury) and the act of causing it (injure).

Usage and nuance: injure is most common for bodily harm, while “harm” is broader and can cover moral, financial, or reputational damage. In medical and legal contexts, injury denotes a specific incident of bodily harm and is often described in terms of severity (minor injury, serious injury). Injurious is the related adjective meaning harmful or damaging, as in “injurious to health.” Phrases include injure the knee, injure one’s back, sustain injuries, or injure a reputation.

See also: harm, wound, damage, injury, injurious, personal injury law, first aid.