Hickey

A hickey, often referred to as a love bite in British English and specialised use, is a bruise or bruise-like mark caused by biting or sucking the skin of a person, usually on their neck, arm, or earlobe. 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. Many therapists see hickeys as a form of light sadomasochism.[1]

## History

In a looser definition, the fourth-century Hindu text Kama Sutra contains references to biting with relation to kissing.[2] "Love bite" as a term is first attested in 1749 in John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure.[3] The later term 'hickey', originally used in American English and still predominantly in that dialect, is of unclear etymology.[4] 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).[5]

## References

1. ↑ Janus, Sam; Janus, Cynthia L. (1993). The Janus Report on Sexual Behavior. New York: Wiley. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-471-52540-0.
2. ↑ Vatsyayana (1883). "Part II, Chapter V: On Biting". Kama Sutra. p. 46. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Kama_Sutra_(Burton)/Part_2/Chapter_5. Retrieved 2025-07-02.
3. ↑ love bite (3rd ed.), Oxford University Press, September 2005, http://oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=love+bite (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
4. ↑ hickey (3rd ed.), Oxford University Press, September 2005, http://oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=hickey (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
5. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "hickie". Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/?term=hickie. Retrieved 2025-07-02.

## External links

Classification|

* ICD-10: Xxx.x
* ICD-9-CM: xxx

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*[c.]: circa