Wrath is extreme and often righteous anger. The wrath of God, incur his wrath, face the wrath of the public.
It is grander than anger and implies a right to be angry, which is why it belongs to gods and to public opinion. Incur somebody's wrath is the fixed phrase, and the adjective wroth is now entirely archaic.
1nounwrathExtreme and often righteous anger.
“The students feared the head teacher's wrath after they broke the window.”
wrath is an anger.
Old English wraeththu comes from wrath, angry, from a root meaning twisted.
Proto-Indo-European
*wreyt- — to twist
Proto-Germanic
*wraiþaz — angry, furious, wroth; hostile, violent; bent, twisted
Proto-West Germanic
*wraiþiþu — anger, fury, wrath
Old English
wrǣþþu — ire, wrath
Middle English
wratthe — anger, hostility, distress retribution
English, today
wrath
Built from
The noun is derived from Middle English wratthe (“anger, hostility, distress retribution”)wraaþ, wragh, wraght, wraith, wrat, wrā̆th, wrathe, wrā̆the, wrath, wraththe, wratth, wratthe, wraugth, wretthe, (Scotland) wraith, (Southwest Midlands) wradðe, wrað, wraðe, wræððe, wraððe, wraððhe, wraðþe, wraþe, wraþþe, wreadðe, wreaððe, wredða, wredðe, wreþþe, from Old English wrǣþþu (“ire, wrath”)wraððo, wræððu, wræððo, wrǣþþ, (Northumberland) urāððo, from Proto-West Germanic wraiþiþu (“anger, fury, wrath”), from wraiþ (“angry, furious, wroth; hostile, violent; bent, twisted”) (from Proto-Germanic wraiþaz (“angry, furious, wroth; hostile, violent; bent, twisted”), from Proto-Indo-European wreyt- (“to twist”)) + -iþu. Effectively analysable as wroth + th; compare Dutch wreedte. The verb is derived from Middle English wratthen (“to be or become angry, to rage; to quarrel; to cause wrath, offend; to become troubled or vexed; to cause grief or harm, grieve, vex”)wrath, wrathe, wrathen, wraththe, wraththen, wraththi, wratth, wratthe, wraþþen, wreththe, wreththi, wretth, wretthe, wretthi, wretthin, wreþþen, (Southwest England, Southwest Midlands) wreaððin, wreððen, (Early Middle English) wraðhin, wræðþiæn, from wratthe, wretthe (see above) + -en.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA