Hickey - wikipedia Hickey For other uses, see Hickey ( disambiguation ). `` Love bite '' redirects here. For the British film, see Love Bite. Hickey Synonym Kiss mark, love bite, bug bite Hickeys on the neck. A hickey, hickie or love bite in British English, is a bruise or bruise - like mark caused by the kissing or sucking of the skin, usually on the neck or arm. While biting might be part of giving a hickey, sucking is sufficient to burst small superficial blood vessels under the skin. The origin of the word is from its earlier meaning of `` pimple, skin lesion '' ( c. 1915 ) ; perhaps a sense extension and spelling variation from the earlier word meaning `` small gadget, device ; any unspecified object '' which has an unknown origin ( 1909 ). Hickeys typically last from 5 to 12 days and may be treated in the same way as other bruises. Ways to reduce the appearance of hickeys include icing recent hickeys to reduce swelling, rubbing them with a chilled spoon to remove the bruise, and applying a warm compress to older hickeys to dilate vessels and promote blood flow. They can be covered with a concealer or powder corresponding to the sufferer 's skin tone, or a fake tan. Alternatively, articles of clothing such as scarves, snoods, turtle necks, or sleeves may be used to conceal hickeys. References Jump up ^ `` hickie - Origin and meaning of hickie by Online Etymology Dictionary ''. www.etymonline.com. Jump up ^ `` How Long Do Hickeys Last ''. ownarticles.com. April 15, 2016. Archived from the original on 2016 - 05 - 20. Jump up ^ Amar, Charu ( 2009 - 11 - 06 ). `` Ouch ! That 's a lovebite ! ''. Man - Woman Relationships. The Times of India. Retrieved 2010 - 01 - 18. External links Classification ICD - 10 : Xxx. x ICD - 9 - CM : xxx Listen to this article ( info / dl ) This audio file was created from a revision of the article `` Hickey '' dated 2011 - 03 - 26, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ( Audio help ) More spoken articles Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hickey&oldid=848432890 '' Categories : Injuries Sexual acts Injuries of neck Hidden categories : Infobox medical condition ( new ) Spoken articles Articles with hAudio microformats Talk About Wikipedia Brezhoneg Čeština Dansk Deutsch Español Esperanto فارسی Français 한국어 Íslenska Italiano עברית Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Suomi Svenska Українська 中文 14 more Edit links This page was last edited on 1 July 2018, at 21 : 33 ( UTC ). About Wikipedia

Question: what does it mean to get a hickey
Answer: a bruise or bruise-like mark caused by the kissing or sucking of the skin