whinge

English

WOTD – 6 October 2015

Alternative forms

• winge (archaic)
• quhynge (Scotland, obsolete)

Etymology

From a northern variant of Old English hwinsian (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwinisōn (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīnan (“to whine”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with German winseln (“to whine, whimper”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: (h)wĭnj, (h)wĭnZH, IPA^(key): /(h)wɪnd͡ʒ/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪndʒ

Verb

whinge (third-person singular simple present whinges, present participle whingeing or whinging, simple past and past participle whinged)

1. (UK, Commonwealth, Ireland) To whine; to complain, especially in an annoying or persistent manner.

   Argh! He has been whinging about it all night, even though he knows there's nothing we can do.

   I know it won't help but sometimes it feels better to whinge about the things that annoy me.

   • 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], chapter I, in Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume II, Edinburgh:  […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

     "'D' ye hear what's come ower ye now,' continued the virago, 'ye whingeing Whig carles? D'ye hear wha's coming to cow yer cracks?"

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     You crossed her last wish in death and yet you sulk with me because I don’t whinge like some hired mute from Lalouette’s.

   • 1992, Sky Phillips, Secret mission to Melbourne, November, 1941, page 45:

     Mostly, they were wingeing about the lousy cook and the same thing served too often

   • 1993, Michael Fisher, The Nightmare Man, page 169:

     His wife will winge her bloody head off, but Nev will come good.

   • 2002, Diana Wynne Jones, A Tale of Time City, page 41:

     "I'm miserable," Sam proclaimed, plodding behind with his shoelace flapping. "Nobody ever gives me butter-pies when I need them." / "Shut up," said Jonathan. "Stop wingeing."

   • 2012, John Lyons, The Australian, 1st Dec issue, Action stations as sea giants stay vigilant on the frontline

     "You know the problem these days with young people? Get them to carry a 500-pound bomb and within 30 seconds they're making noises," he says, imitating a whingeing sound.

Noun

whinge (plural whinges)

1. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland) A cry.

   Her whinges grew even shriller and more annoying the longer we had to listen to them.

2. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland) A peevish complaint.

   I know you don't like it, but your whinges won't solve the problem!

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:complain

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱwey- (0 c, 3 e)

Translations

to complain or protest

• Dutch: mopperen (nl), zeuren (nl), zagen (nl)
• Finnish: kitistä (fi), narista (fi), inistä (fi)
• German: jammern (de), meckern (de), plärren (de)
• Greek: παραπονιέμαι (el) (paraponiémai), παραπονούμαι (el) (paraponoúmai)
• Hindi: कराहना (hi) (karāhnā)
• Hungarian: nyavalyog (hu)
• Japanese: 泣き事 (nakigoto) (noun), 泣き事を言う (nakigoto o iu) (verb)
• Russian: пла́каться (ru) impf (plákatʹsja), скули́ть (ru) impf (skulítʹ), хны́кать (ru) impf (xnýkatʹ)
• Swedish: klaga (sv), gnälla (sv)

Further reading

• A relevant page from Understanding cultures through their key words, Anna Wierzbicka.
• Wright, Joseph (1905) The English Dialect Dictionary‎^[1], volume 6, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 461

Anagrams

• hewing