Punction

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of piercing a surface with a sharp point so that a small hole is made in it
2. A pricking or piercing made by a sharp object, leaving a small opening in the skin or material
3. Making a small hole in something by driving a pointed object into it

Etymology: "Punction" is a rare word, and its history runs through Middle English and Latin. It came into English from the Middle English "puncciǒun," which was itself drawn from Latin "pūnctiō," with the stem "pūnctiōn-." The Latin noun is built on the verb "pungere," meaning to prick or pierce, so the word's core idea is a piercing or puncturing. The word has a close relative. "Puncheon" is a doublet of "punction," meaning the two words descend from the same Latin source but reached English by different routes and took on different forms and senses. Because they came in separately, one can carry the idea of a pricking action while the other became a name for a tool or a cask.