twinge

Meanings

Verb

• To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak.
• To affect with a sharp, sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains.
• To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain.

Noun

• A pinch; a tweak; a twitch.
• A sudden sharp pain.

Origin

• From Middle English twengen, from Old English twenġan, from Proto-West Germanic *twangijan, from Proto-Germanic *twangijaną, causative of Proto-Germanic *twinganą, of uncertain origin, but probably related to *þwangiz. See also Old High German zwengen, Old English twingan.