Etymology
1. O.E.
wringan "press, strain, wring, twist" (class III strong verb; past tense
wrang, pp.
wrungen), from P.Gmc.
*wrenganan (cf. O.E.
wringen "to wring, press out," O.Fris.
wringa, M.Du.
wringhen, Du.
wringen "to wring," O.H.G.
ringan "to move to and fro, to twist," Ger.
ringen "to wrestle"), from PIE
*wrengh- "to turn," nasalized variant of
*wergh- "to turn," from base
*wer- "to turn, bend" (see versus).
Wringer "device for squeezing water from clothes" first recorded 1799. Fig. phrase
to put (something) through the wringer first recorded 1942, Amer.Eng.
2. From Middle English wring, wringe, wringen, wryng, wrynge, wryngen, wryngyn, from Old English wringan (“to wring”), from Proto-Germanic *wringaną (“to squeeze, twist, wring”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wrenǵʰ- (“to squeeze, wring”).
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with Scots wring (“to wring”), Saterland Frisian wringe (“to wring”), Dutch wringen (“to wring; to wrest; to writhe”), German ringen (“to wrestle; to struggle; to wring”), wringen (“to wring”), Luxembourgish réngen (“to grapple, wrestle”); also Ancient Greek ῥίμφα (rhímpha, “fast, nimbly, rapidly”), Lithuanian rangýti (“to roll up; to curl, twist, wave”). See: Old English '
wringan', Proto-Germanic '
*wringaną', Scots '
wring', Frisian, Saterlandic 'wringe', Dutch '
wringen', German, old spelling '
ringen', Luxembourgish '
réngen'.
Verbs referencing "wring"
German, old spelling
wringen, Korean
틀리다, Luxembourgish
réngen.