Past tense of bleed; to lose blood from a wound or to have blood flow out of the body.
From Old English 'bledan,' related to Old German 'bluten.' The word is related to 'blood' and appears in Germanic languages with similar sounds and meanings.
The fact that 'bled' still uses this ancient Germanic root shows how English preserves some of its oldest vocabulary for basic bodily functions—these are the words that never get replaced.
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