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hem·or·rhage (hĕmər-ĭj)
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n.
1. Excessive discharge of blood from the blood vessels; profuse bleeding.
2. A copious loss of something valuable: a hemorrhage of corporate earnings.
v. hem·or·rhaged, hem·or·rhag·ing, hem·or·rhag·es
v.intr.
1. To bleed copiously.
2. To undergo a rapid and sudden loss: a gubernatorial candidate whose popularity hemorrhaged after a disastrous debate.
v.tr.
To lose (something valuable) rapidly and in quantity: The company was hemorrhaging capital when it was bought by another firm.
[From obsolete hemoragie, emorogie, from Middle English emorogie, from Old French emoragie, from Latin haemorrhagia, from Greek haimorrhagiā : haimo-, hemo- + -rrhagiā, -rrhagia.]
hem′or·rhagic (hĕm′ə-răjĭk) adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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