Word.ws English Dictionary

contrecoup

contrecoup noun: a bruising of the brain caused by a blow, appearing on the opposite side to that on which the blow was struck.

Noun

contrecoup (plural contrecoups)

  1. A bruising of the brain caused by a blow, appearing on the opposite side to that on which the blow was struck.
    • These injuries, known as contrecoup injuries, appear on the opposite side of the brain from the point of impact because the brain is flung against its own protective (or in this case not-so-protective) casing.2019, Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Black Swan (2020), page 79

Forms of contrecoup

pluralcontrecoups

Origin of contrecoup

Borrowed from French contrecoup, from contre (Latin contra) + coup a blow.

Questions about contrecoup

What does contrecoup mean?
Contrecoup means a bruising of the brain caused by a blow, appearing on the opposite side to that on which the blow was struck.
What part of speech is contrecoup?
Contrecoup is a noun.
What is the plural of contrecoup?
The plural of contrecoup is contrecoups.

Words near contrecoup in the dictionary

  1. contrawise
  2. contrayerva
  3. contrayervas
  4. Contrazy
  5. contre-jour
  6. contrecoup
  7. contrecoups
  8. contrectation
  9. contrectations
  10. contredance
  11. contredances

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: contrecoup (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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