retch

Meaning

Verb

1. To make or experience an unsuccessful effort to vomit; to strain or spasm, as if to vomit; to gag or nearly vomit.
2. To vomit; to make or experience a successful effort to vomit.

Noun

An unsuccessful effort to vomit.

Synonyms

vomit

heave

throw up

gag

puke

barf

chuck

disgorge

upchuck

regurgitate

be sick

regorge

belch

cast

cat

😺

honk

nauseate

purge

sick

🤢

spew

eructate

spue

vomit up

toss one’s cookies

chunder

suffocate

frog

🐸

feel nauseated

eruct

choke

yak

be disgusting

be nauseated

feel like vomiting

get sick

Ralph

suffer from nausea

hurl

bring up wind

queasy

reach

hiccup

heave up

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɹɛt͡ʃ/

Etymology

From Middle English *recchen, *rechen (attested in arechen), hræcen (“to cough up”), from Old English hrǣċan (“to clear the throat, hawk, spit”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrākijan, from Proto-Germanic *hrēkijaną (“to clear one's throat”), from Proto-Indo-European *kreg- (“to caw, crow”). Cognate with Icelandic hrækja (“to hawk, spit”), Limburgish räöke (“to induce vomiting”), Bavarian reckn (“to retch, gag”) and German recken (“to retch, gag”). Also related with German Rachen (“throat”).