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whinge

UK/(h)wɪnd͡ʒ/US/(h)wɪnd͡ʒ/
verbC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechleans spoken

Other forms: whinging, whingeing

To whinge is to complain in a tiresome way. Stop whinging, a whinging tone, whinge about everything.

It is British and Australian and is much more dismissive than complain, since calling it whinging says the grievance is not worth hearing. It is a northern form of the same word as whine.

Definitions of whinge

  1. 1verbwhingeTo complain in a tiresome way.C1

    “Stop whingeing about the weather and help me put the tent up.”

whinge is a complaining.

Also accepted in games: whine

Where it comes from

A northern form of Old English hwinsian, to whine.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *ḱwey-

  2. Proto-West Germanic

    *hwinisōn — to whine

  3. Old English

    hwinsian — to whine

  4. English, today

    whinge

From a northern variant of Old English hwinsian (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic hwinisōn (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic hwīnan (“to whine”), from Proto-Indo-European ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with German winseln (“to whine, whimper”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Ways of Speaking

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