Whinge

//(h)wɪnd͡ʒ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A cry. Australia, Ireland, New-Zealand, UK

    "Her whinges grew even shriller and more annoying the longer we had to listen to them."

  2. 2
    A peevish complaint. Australia, Ireland, New-Zealand, UK

    "I know you don't like it, but your whinges won't solve the problem!"

Verb
  1. 1
    To whine; to complain, especially in an annoying or persistent manner. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK

    "Argh! He has been whinging about it all night, even though he knows there's nothing we can do."

Synonyms

All synonyms
bemoanbitchbleatcomplaincomplaingripe

Example

More examples

"Don't whinge; here's your candy."

Etymology

From a northern variant of Old English hwinsian (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwinisōn (“to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīnan (“to whine”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with German winseln (“to whine, whimper”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.