The words ‘hurt’ and ‘injured’ are confused as it seems both of the words’ meanings are almost the same. But their meanings are actually different from each other.
So before using any of the words, one needs to know their exact meanings and functions. And it can only be done by comparing the terms and knowing their differences.
Key Takeaways
- “Hurt” describes a general feeling of pain or discomfort, whereas “injured” refers to physical damage to the body.
- Emotional pain can be described as being hurt, while injuries specifically involve physical harm.
- Injuries require medical attention, whereas hurt feelings or minor discomforts may not.
Hurt vs Injured
Hurt refers to a general sense of physical or emotional pain, discomfort, or distress. It can be used to describe a wide range of physical or emotional experiences. Injured specifically refers to physical damage to the body caused by an external force or trauma. Injuries can range from minor cuts and bruises to more serious injuries like broken bones or deep wounds.
If someone is met with an accident or involved in fighting, we can say that he or she is hurt. But if the pain is minimal, only then the word ‘hurt’ can be used.
The recovery time for being physically hurt is also negligible, and that person may or may not require medical help. The word can also be applied to a person who is emotionally in pain.
Being injured does not mean something different from being hurt but does not include emotional pain. It only indicates physical pain like a sprain, fracture, tearing of the tissue, etc.
An injury takes time to heal, and proper medical attention is required in this matter. Sometimes an injury can become fatal and cause death. So one needs to be very careful.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Hurt | Injured |
|---|---|---|
| Implication | Being hurt implies both physical and emotional pain. | Being injured only means being physically hurt like a sprain in the ankle or fracture of a bone. |
| Medical help | When someone is hurt, he or she may or may not require medical attention. | But for an injury, medical supervision is needed. |
| Recovery time | If being physically hurt, an individual takes a few days to recover. But it does not apply to emotional pain. | An injured person can take as much time as he or she wants to depending on the severity of the injury. |
| Lethality | Being cannot be lethal. | Being injured can be lethal. |
| Intensity of pain | When someone is hurt, the pain is less severe than an injury. | In an injury, the pain can be severe. |
What is Hurt?
If someone is hurt, it can indicate two things. That person can be physically hurt like in an accident and also be mentally disturbed.
However, in both of these situations, the individual goes through feeling pain. So a person can be badly hurt in an accident and also by someone’s behaviour.
Being hurt may indicate having some bodily injuries. For example, when a boxer is fighting with his or her opponent, he or she might get a wound or bruise as a result.
But he or she can still participate in the event, and the wound won’t get worse.
On the other hand, the word ‘hurt’ is also related to causing emotional pain. It may happen due to a humiliating or bad experience.
If someone disrespects or behaves badly with you, you can get hurt. If we say, ‘Rishi is badly hurt at Rose’s disrespectful words towards him, then the use of the term here is correct.
The amount of pain one goes through if he or she is hurt is tolerable. It may suggest that he or she can continue doing whatever activity he or she was into.
So the severity related to being hurt is less as compared to being injured. But it does not mean that if you are hurt, the intensity of your pain is less valued.
What is Injured?
The word ‘injured’ implies being severely wounded or damaged. When someone is injured, he or she should not engage in the activity he or she was doing as it may aggregate the pain and make the injury more severe.
Unlike the word ‘hurt’, ‘injured’ cannot be used when someone is emotionally drained or in pain.
Thus, being injured has no connection with someone’s emotional pain or anxiety. It solely applies to the physical pain one suffers from.
When you are injured, the step should be to take an ample amount of rest to recover. Only then you can resume whatever you are doing.
When injured, one needs to be very cautious. The injured should be placed under keen supervision to observe whether the injury is recovering or getting worse as it may even cause death.
An injury has the potential to damage your functionality. As a result, you may stop doing something which can turn the injury into a lethal one.
So in an injury, a part of the human body is wounded or damaged. The person injured might be going through acute pain or physical illness and may need medical attention.
An injury can occur if you are met with an accident, involved in fighting or simply by mistake.
Main Differences Between Hurt and Injured
- The word ‘hurt’ applies to both emotional and physical pain. But a person can only be injured when he or she is physically hurt or wounded.
- When hurt, a person may or may not need medical attention, whereas while injured, that person surely needs medical help.
- A hurt person does not go through acute physical or emotional pain. But an injured person goes through severe physical illness.
- Being hurt can never be the cause of death. But an injury can lead to death.
- A person can be hurt emotionally but can never be injured.
References
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093650205277319
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140197110001077
Last Updated : 13 July, 2023
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Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
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