Etymologically
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wrestle

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɹɛsl̩/[1]
  • US: /ˈɹɛs(ə)l/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wrestlen, also wrastlen,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English *wrǣstlian,[5][6][4][7] the frequentative of wrǣstan (“to twist, wrest”), the source of wrest, with the suffix -le.[8][6][9][4] The Old English verb itself is not recorded, but it is implied in the noun wrǣstlung (“wrestling”),[9][10][7] which glosses Latin palaestra in an Old English glossary.[11] Related forms are North Frisian wrassele, Middle Low German worstelen and Middle Dutch worstelen, still the Dutch word;[8][6][7] compare also wraxlian and the northern warsle.[7][8] According to Etymonline, the Old English verb and its cognate Old Norse reista (“to bend, twist”) come from Proto-Germanic *wraistijaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To try to throw another person to the ground by grappling with them: the verb is implied in wrǣstlung about 890,[9] and the OED's first quotation is an Old English gloss.[8] Barnhart dates wrestlen itself to before 1250, in Genesis and Exodus.[9][12]

Semantic evolution

Figurative uses came early: to struggle against difficulties or one's own feelings from about 1225, in the Ancrene Riwle,[8][6] and to contend in hostility with someone from before 1200.[8] In Middle English the verb widened to labouring or toiling (Wycliffite Bible, 1382), to natural forces acting against each other (about 1400) and to arguing or debating (about 1450),[8] and since the mid-15th century to busying oneself earnestly with a task or a troublesome duty.[8][6] From about 1400 it could also mean to twist or writhe about,[8] and since 1591 to make one's way with effort.[8] Religious writers spoke from 1612 of wrestling with God in prayer.[8] The noun followed in 1593, in Queen Elizabeth I's translation of Boethius;[8][9] the sense "a wrestling match" is recorded from 1670, in Milton.[8] Johnson (1755) defined the verb as to contend over which of two will throw the other down.[13] The spellings rassle and wrassle, now dialectal and chiefly North American, reflect a pronunciation with /a/.[10] In Scots and Lancashire dialect, to wrestle out the glass was to struggle through a sermon until the hourglass ran out, and to wrestle with the champion was to drink hard.[14]

Timeline

  • c. 890 – implied in Old English wrǣstlung, wrestling.[9]
  • before 1200 – to contend in hostility with someone.[8]
  • c. 1225 – figurative, to struggle against difficulties.[8][6]
  • before 1250 – wrestlen in Genesis and Exodus.[9]
  • 1382 – to labour, toil.[8]
  • c. 1450 – to argue, debate.[8]
  • 1593 – noun, the action of wrestling.[8][9][4]
  • 1612 – to wrestle with God in prayer.[8]
  • 1670 – noun, a wrestling match.[8]
  • 1850 – noun, figurative, a hard struggle.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fight an opponent by grappling and trying to throw or pin them, without striking blows: The two boys wrestled on the lawn.[15][4]
  2. To take part in the sport of wrestling.[15][4]
  3. To struggle hard with a problem, a feeling or a task: She wrestled with the decision for weeks.[15][4][8]
  4. To move something with great effort, as if wrestling: He wrestled the suitcase into the boot.[15][8]

Noun

  1. A wrestling bout or match.[4][8]
  2. A hard struggle.[4][8]

Word family

  • wrestler
  • arm-wrestle
  • outwrestle
  • warsle
  • wrestling

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  12. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ 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)
  15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins