Wound1, n.
(wōond, or wownd, 40) (Synop., § 130), n. [A-S. wund, O. Sax. wunda, O. Fries. wunde, unde, und, D. wonde, O. H. Ger. wunta, wanda, N. H. Ger. wunde, Dan. vunde, Icel. und; Goth. vunds, sore, wounded, A-S., O. Sax. & N. H. Ger. wund, O. H. Ger. wunt, O. D. wont.]
Sense 1. A breach of the skin and flesh of an animal, or in the substance of any creature or living thing, caused by violence; a cut, stab, bruise, rent, or the like; a hurt; an injury.
Showers of blood Rained from the wounds of slaughtered Englishmen. Shak.
Sense 2. Hence, injury; hurt; damage; detriment; as, a wound given to credit or reputation.
Sense 3. (Criminal Law.) An injury to the person by which the skin is divided, or its continuity broken. Burrill.
Walker condemns the pronunciation woond as a “capricious novelty.” It is certainly opposed to an important principle of our language, namely, that words in ou, of Anglo-Saxon origin, retain the regular Old English sound of ow, as sound, ground, found, &c., while words derived from the French have the sound of ou in that language, as soup, group, &c. The introduction of the oo sound in this word is doubtless owing to the euphonic influence of the w. The earlier pronunciation was unquestionably wound; but woond has rapidly gained ground, and is the more fashionable.