twinge

English

Etymology

From Middle English twengen, from Old English twenġan (“to pinch, squeeze, twinge”), from Proto-West Germanic *twangijan, from Proto-Germanic *twangijaną (“to jam, pinch”), causative of Proto-Germanic *twinganą (“to press, clamp”), of uncertain origin, but probably related to *þwangiz (“belt, strap, clamp”). See also Old High German zwengen (“to pinch”), Old English twingan (“to press, force”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /twɪnd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪndʒ

Verb

twinge (third-person singular simple present twinges, present participle twingeing or twinging, simple past and past participle twinged)

1. (transitive) To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak.
   • 1662, [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:

     When a man is past his sense, / There's no way to reduce him thence, / But twinging him by the ears or nose, / Or laying on of heavy blows.

2. (transitive) To affect with a sharp, sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains.
   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:

     The gnat […] Twing'd him, till he made him Tear himself with his own Paws, and in the Conclusion he Master'd the Lion

3. (intransitive) To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain.

   My side twinges.

Noun

twinge (plural twinges)

1. A pinch; a tweak; a twitch.
2. A sudden sharp pain.

   I got a twinge in my arm.

   • 1935, Francis Beeding, “7/2”, in The Norwich Victims‎^[1]:

     The two Gordon setters came obediently to heel. Sir Oswald Feiling winced as he turned to go home. He had felt a warning twinge of lumbago.

Translations

a pinch; a tweak; a twitch

• Bulgarian: пробождане (bg) n (proboždane)
• Greek: τσίμπημα (el) n (tsímpima)
• Maori: io (mi), kini, kikini

sudden sharp pain

• Bulgarian: внезапна болка (vnezapna bolka)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 刺痛 (ci³ tong³)

• Finnish: pistos (fi)
• French: élancement (fr) m
• Greek: σουβλιά (el) f (souvliá), σφάχτης (el) m (sfáchtis), σουβλίζω (el) (souvlízo)
• Ingrian: pisse
• Irish: díoth m, géaróg f, arraing f
• Latin: stringor m
• Maori: konatu, kini, kikino, io (mi), kikini
• Occitan: ponheson f, lançada (oc) f, lancejada f
• Plautdietsch: Stäakj f
• Russian: ре́зкая боль f (rézkaja bolʹ), при́ступ бо́ли m (prístup bóli)

Further reading

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Anagrams

• Winget, tewing