Anguish is very great pain of mind or body. In anguish, a cry of anguish, the anguish of waiting.
It is stronger than distress and belongs to grief above all. The Latin behind it means narrowness, from the same root as anxiety and angina, since all three describe a tightness that will not let go.
1nounanguishVery great pain of mind or body.
“The mother cried out in anguish when she heard about the accident.”
anguish is a pain.
Latin angustia means narrowness or tightness, from angere, to choke; anxiety comes from the same root.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂enǵʰ-
Latin
angustia — narrowness, scarcity, difficulty, distress
Old French
angoisse
Anglo-Norman
anguise
Middle English
angwissh
English, today
anguish
Built from
From Middle English angwissh, anguishe, angoise, from Anglo-Norman anguise, anguisse, from Old French angoisse, from Latin angustia (“narrowness, scarcity, difficulty, distress”), from angustus (“narrow, difficult”), from angō (“to press together, cause pain, distress”). See angst, the Germanic cognate, and anger.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA