Etymologically
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cringe

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈkɹɪnd͡ʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English crengen, also crenchen,[2][3][4] apparently inherited from Old English *crengan, an unrecorded causative verb,[3][5][2] from the same base as cringan (“to fall in battle, give way, perish”), also crincan.[3][6][7][8] Wiktionary reconstructs the causative as Proto-Germanic *krangijaną (“to cause to fall or turn”) and the strong verb as *kringaną,[9] which Kroonen gives as the source of *kringa- (“circle”).[10] Related words are Old Norse kringr (“circle”), Dutch kring and German Kring,[11][12][10] krengen (“to heel over”),[7][13] Old Norse krangr (“weak, frail”) and krank (“sick”),[7][14] and crank and crinkle.[8][12][15] If this etymology is right, the verb was first transitive, "to cause to cringe".[3] The modern i probably comes from the raising of e before n and another consonant;[3] until the 16th century the word was usually spelled crenge or crench.[8] Johnson derived it from German kriechen.[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

To draw oneself into a bent shape, often haughtily: about 1225, in the legend of St Margaret, where the dragon bigon to crahien & crenge wið swire, arching its neck.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense, to contract the body or cower, has been used since the early 13th century.[3] A transitive sense, to draw in or contort a part of the body, is recorded from 1594 to 1678;[3] Johnson (1755) still defined the verb as "to draw together; to contract", quoting Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra.[16][17] From about 1604 it meant to bow in a servile way.[3] From about 1660 it was also used figuratively, to behave obsequiously.[3] Etymonline dates "to crouch with servility or fear" to the 1570s.[11] The modern sense of wincing inwardly with embarrassment or disgust is recorded from 1868.[3] The noun, a servile bow, followed in 1592,[3][18] and in colloquial use from 1984 it meant acute embarrassment or something causing it;[3] cringe-worthy is recorded by 1990,[11] and cringe as an adjective, embarrassing, from 2001.[3] In Australia the cultural cringe is a deference to the cultural standards of other countries.[19][18] In Scots and Yorkshire dialect it meant to tremble for one's own or another's safety, and in East Anglia to crinkle or shrivel.[17] In American drug slang cringe was a name for methamphetamine.[20]

Timeline

  • c. 1225 – to bend, arch the neck; to shrink into a bent position.[2][3]
  • 1592 – noun, a servile bow.[3][18]
  • 1594 – transitive, to contort (obsolete by 1678).[3]
  • c. 1604 – to bow servilely.[3]
  • c. 1660 – figurative, to behave obsequiously.[3]
  • 1868 – to wince inwardly with embarrassment or disgust.[3]
  • 1984 – noun, acute embarrassment.[3]
  • 1990 – cringe-worthy.[11]
  • 2001 – adjective, embarrassing.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To shrink back or flinch, especially in fear: The puppy cringed at the sound of thunder.[19][18][3]
  2. To behave in a servile or fawning way; to bow obsequiously.[19][18][3]
  3. To wince inwardly with embarrassment or distaste: I still cringe when I hear that recording.[19][3]

Noun

  1. An act of cringing, especially a servile bow; servility.[18][19][3]
  2. (informal) Acute embarrassment, or something that causes it.[3]

Adjective

  1. (informal) Embarrassing; making one cringe.[3]

Word family

  • cringer
  • cringingly
  • cringingness

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  10. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  11. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  12. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  16. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  17. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  18. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  19. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  20. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com