Etymograph

English

bladder

Bladder comes from Middle English bladdre ‘the urinary bladder’, from Proto-West Germanic *blādrā ‘bubble, blister, something inflated’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- ‘to blow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-1‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blēdrǭ2‘bubble, blister, something inflated’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blādrā2‘bubble, blister, something inflated’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150blēdre2‘blister, bladder’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150blæddre2
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bladdre2‘the urinary bladder’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1610bladder2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *blēdrǭ
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English bladder
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610, Giles Fletcher, Christ's Victorie and Triumph: “bladder'd up with pride of his own merit”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *blēdrǭ‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*blēdrǭWiktionary, English bladder‘bubble, blister, something inflated’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*blādrāWiktionary, English bladder‘bubble, blister, something inflated’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150blēdreWiktionary, English bladder‘blister, bladder’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150blæddreWiktionary, English bladder
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bladdreWiktionary, English bladder‘the urinary bladder’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1610bladderWiktionary, English bladder. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610, Giles Fletcher, Christ's Victorie and Triumph: “bladder'd up with pride of his own merit”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- ‘to blow’

blow, inflation, blast, flavor, flux, bliss, fluent, confluence, fluency, feeble, inflate, fluvial, flatulence, blithely, conflate, blare, bleat, 45 more

through Proto-Germanic *blēdrǭ ‘bubble, blister, something inflated’

blather, 1 more

Today it means

noun A flexible sac that can expand and contract and that holds liquids or gases.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bladder”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *blēdrǭ. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- / bladder

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