Other forms: itching, itches
To itch is to feel a tickle on the skin that begs to be scratched. My arm itches, an itchy jumper, scratch an itch.
It has its own nerve pathway, separate from pain, and scratching relieves it by producing a small pain that masks it — which is why scratching makes it worse afterwards. Itching is contagious by sight. Figuratively, itching to do something means impatient to. Note that the origin beyond Germanic is unknown.
1verbitchTo feel a tickle on the skin that begs to be scratched.
“My mosquito bites itched all night.”
2verbimpatientTo be impatient to do something.
“The kids were itching to open their presents on Christmas morning.”
itch is a sensation.
Old English gicce names the sensation, from a Germanic root. Its origin beyond that is unknown.
Proto-Germanic
*jukjǭ — itch
Old English
ġiċċe — itch
Middle English
icche
English, today
itch
From Middle English icche, ȝicche, from Old English ġiċċe (“itch”), from Proto-Germanic jukjǭ (“itch”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Scots yeuk (“itch, itchiness”), Dutch jeuk (“itch”), German jucken.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA