From the Greek noun αἷμᾰ (haîma), meaning "blood," and the verb ῥήγνυμι (rhēgnumi), meaning "I break, tear, rend, shatter," the word hemorrhage is a profuse escape of blood from a ruptured blood vessel. Hemorrhage is also used as a verb when speaking about someone hemorrhaging from a particular part of the body, like a blood vessel in the brain that causes a stroke.