writhe
English
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writhe
- /ɹaɪð/
Rhymes with -aɪð
Where it comes from
From Middle English writhen, from Old English wrīþan, from Proto-West Germanic *wrīþan, from Proto-Germanic *wrīþaną (“to weave, twist, turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist, writhe”). Cognate with Middle Dutch writen (“to turn, twist”), dialectal German reiden (“to turn, twist, lace”), Danish vride (“to twist”), Swedish vrida (“to turn, twist, wind”), French rider (“to wrinkle, furrow, ruffle”, (< Germanic)). Compare also Lithuanian riēsti (“to unbend, wind, roll”).
verb writhes · writhing · writhed · wrothe
- To twist, wring (something).
- To contort (a part of the body). Cicero (as I remember) had gotten a custome to wryth his nose, which signifieth a naturall scoffer.
- To twist bodily; to contort one's self; to be distorted. The game was engulfed in controversy when Rodwell appeared to win the ball cleanly in a midfield challenge with Suarez. The tackle drew an angry response from Liverpool's players- Lucas in particular as Suarez writhed in agony - but it was an obvious injustice when the England Under-21 midfielder wa
- To extort.
noun writhes
- A contortion.
- The number of negative crossings subtracted from the number of positive crossings in a knot
Translations
Every language
verb to twist or wring something
| Deutsch | verdrehen |
|---|
verb to contort a part of the body
| Deutsch | verrenken |
|---|
verb to twist or contort the body
| Español | contorsionar |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 扭曲 niǔqū, 使缠绕 |
| Português | retorcer-se, contorcer-se |
| Français | se débattre, se démener, se tortiller |
| Deutsch | winden, krümmen |
| Italiano | contorcersi |
| Ελληνικά | σφαδάζω sfadázo |
| Русский | ко́рчиться kórčitʹsja, извива́ться izvivátʹsja |
Talk about this word "writhe." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/writhe. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. writhe. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/writhe "writhe." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/writhe.Cite this
@misc{writhe_2026,
title = {writhe},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/writhe},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
