writhe

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*wreyt-“to twist, writhe”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*wrīþaną“to weave, twist, turn”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*wrīþan
4. Old English · inherited fromwrīþan
5. Middle English · inherited fromwrithen
6. English todaywrithe

From Middle English writhen, from Old English wrīþan, from Proto-West Germanic *wrīþan, from Proto-Germanic *wrīþaną (“to weave, twist, turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist, writhe”). Cognate with Middle Dutch writen (“to turn, twist”), dialectal German reiden (“to turn, twist, lace”), Danish vride (“to twist”), Swedish vrida (“to turn, twist, wind”), French rider (“to wrinkle, furrow, ruffle”, (< Germanic)). Compare also Lithuanian riēsti (“to unbend, wind, roll”).

Words from the same roots