What does "wryneck" mean?

Either of two small woodpeckers, Jynx torquilla and Jynx ruficollis, of the Old World, that turn their heads almost 180 degrees when foraging.

Wryneck

Common synonyms include: torticollis, torticollis, adenoiditis, adrenitis, appendicitis, arteritis.

//ˈɹaɪnɛk// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Noun

1
Either of two small woodpeckers, Jynx torquilla and Jynx ruficollis, of the Old World, that turn their heads almost 180 degrees when foraging.
2
Old World woodpecker with a peculiar habit of twisting the neck wordnet
3
A twisted or distorted neck; a deformity in which the neck is drawn to one side by a rigid contraction of one of the muscles. dated
4
an unnatural condition in which the head leans to one side because the neck muscles on that side are contracted wordnet

From wry + neck.

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