pierce vs sever

pierce

verb
  • to break or interrupt abruptly 

  • To penetrate; to affect deeply. 

  • To get to the heart or crux of (a matter). 

  • To create a hole in the skin for the purpose of inserting jewelry. 

  • To puncture; to break through. 

noun
  • A pierced earring. 

sever

verb
  • To disconnect; to disunite; to terminate. 

  • To make a separation or distinction; to distinguish. 

  • To cut free. 

  • To suffer disjunction; to be parted or separated. 

How often have the words pierce and sever occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )