twinge

Meaning

Verb

1. To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak.
2. To affect with a sharp, sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains.
3. To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain.

Noun

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

Pronounced as (IPA)

/twɪnd͡ʒ/

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”).