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whig

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whig¹

  • /ʍɪɡ/

Sounds like Whig, wig (wine–whine merger) · Rhymes with -ɪɡ

Where it comes from

Probably from Middle English wheyȝe, weyȝe, wege, variant of whey. More at whey.

noun whigs

  1. UK, dialectal, obsolete Acidulated whey, sometimes mixed with buttermilk and sweet herbs, used as a cooling beverage.
  2. Buttermilk.

whig²

  • /ʍɪɡ/

Sounds like Whig, wig (wine–whine merger) · Rhymes with -ɪɡ

Where it comes from

Compare frig, jig

verb whigs · whigging · whigged

  1. transitive To urge forward; drive briskly.
  2. intransitive To jog along; move or work briskly.
  3. transitive To weird out or disturb someone.

Whig³

  • /ʍɪɡ/
  • /wɪɡ/

Sounds like whig, wig (wine–whine merger) · Rhymes with -ɪɡ

Where it comes from

From Whiggamore, possibly from Scots whiggamore (“horse driver”), from whig (“to drive”) + mare.

noun Whigs

  1. UK, historical A member of an 18th- and 19th-century political party in Britain that was opposed to the Tories, and eventually became the Liberal Party. One was a piece, Two Cheers for the Whig Interpretation of History, by William Cronon, president of the American Historical Association.

    Opposite: Tory

  2. UK, rare A member (especially a politician) of the former Liberal Party or its successor, the Liberal Democrats.
  3. US, historical An advocate of war against, or independence from, Britain during the American Revolution.

    Opposite: Tory

  4. US, historical A member of a 19th-century US political party opposed to the Democratic Party.

    Opposite: Democrat, Jacksonian Democrat

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: progressive, radical, parliamentarian, constitutionalist, liberal, reformer, insurgent, freethinker, abolitionist, rebel, antimonarchist, antiroyalist, republican, patriot, revolutionary, nonconformist

Translations

Every language

noun a member of an 18th- and 19th-century political party

DeutschWhig

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MLA

"whig." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/whig. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

whig. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/whig

Chicago

"whig." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/whig.

BibTeX
@misc{whig_2026,
  title = {whig},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/whig},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}