What does livor mean?
Livor is a formal medical noun denoting a bluish or purplish discoloration of the skin, particularly the postmortem changes known as livor mortis. As blood settles after death, discoloration can become visible in areas of the body that were in a dependent position. Its distribution and state of fixation can help forensic examiners assess a body's position and the sequence of events surrounding death. Although livor broadly resembles other forms of bluish discoloration, it has a particularly strong association with postmortem pathology. Outside medical, forensic, and legal writing, the word is uncommon; most speakers encounter it through the phrase livor mortis. It is also etymologically connected with livid, lividity, and lividness, all of which reflect the Latin root associated with a bluish or dark colouring.
nounA bluish or purplish discoloration of the skin, especially the discoloration that develops in dependent tissues after death. The term is chiefly used in forensic and medical contexts.
- A bluish or purplish discoloration of the skin, especially the postmortem discoloration caused by the settling of blood in dependent tissues.
"Livor mortis was visible in the tissues lying beneath the body."
"Livor mortis developed in the lower limbs and the side of the body resting against the floor."
"The forensic examiner documented the distribution of livor across the body's dependent surfaces."
The regular plural is grammatically formed but is rarely used because livor generally appears in singular constructions, especially in the phrase livor mortis.
"The photographs documented the livors visible on the lower body."
A body can keep a map of gravity: livor mortis pools in the dependent tissues that lay lowest.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of livor
Livor was borrowed from Latin, where livor denoted a bluish or dark colour and gave rise to the familiar medical phrase livor mortis, literally 'lividness of death'. Latin lividus, the source of livor, also underlies English livid and the related forms lividity and lividness. These words retain the older sense of a bluish or purplish colour even though livid now more commonly describes extreme anger.
How livor is actually used
This is a technical term used chiefly in forensic pathology and related medical literature. It is formal and uncommon in general English and is encountered most often in the Latinized expression livor mortis.
Easily confused with livor
Livor is a noun naming a bluish or purplish discoloration, whereas livid is an adjective describing a person or thing that is extremely angry or, in medical usage, bluish.