The story
From dialectal whimp (“to whine”) + -er (frequentative suffix). Compare German wimmern (“to whimper, whine”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
whimper
whim·perToday it means: A low intermittent sob. Full definition →
Today it means: A low intermittent sob. Full definition →
From dialectal whimp (“to whine”) + -er (frequentative suffix). Compare German wimmern (“to whimper, whine”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.