cringe

English

/kɹɪnd͡ʒ/

noun
Definitions
  • A posture or gesture of shrinking or recoiling.
  • (dated) A servile obeisance.
  • (dialect) A crick.
  • (uncountable) An embarrassing event or situation which causes an onlooker to cringe.
  • (uncountable) Someone or something that is cringy.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English *crinchen inherited from Old English *crenċan inherited from Proto-Germanic *krangijaną (cause to turn), *kringaną (yield, fall, turn) derived from Proto-Indo-European *grenǵʰ- (twist, wind).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*grenǵʰ-

Gloss

twist, wind

Concept
Semantic Field

Motion

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Kanji

風

Emoji
🪢

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms