different between entwine vs writhe

English

Alternative forms

• (archaic) intwine

Etymology

From en- +? twine (verb).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?twa?n/
• (General American) enPR: ?n-tw?n?, IPA^(key): /??n?twa?n/
• Rhymes: -a?n
• Hyphenation: en?twine

Verb

entwine (third-person singular simple present entwines, present participle entwining, simple past and past participle entwined)

1. To twist or twine around something (or one another).

Usage notes

Particularly used in attributive form entwined.

Often used interchangeably with intertwine, with minor usage distinctions. In symmetric sense of two things twining around each other, such as the branches of two trees, narrower intertwine may be preferred, but these are not strictly distinguished. In asymmetric sense of one thing twined in or around another – rather than mutually – such as a vine twined around a tree (but tree not twined around the vine), entwined is preferred.

Synonyms

• (twine around one another): intertwine

Derived terms

• entwinement (noun)
• entwining (noun)
• entwining (adj)

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English writhen, from Old English wr?þan, from Proto-West Germanic *wr?þan, from Proto-Germanic *wr?þan? (“to weave, twist, turn”) (compare Old High German r?dan (“to wind, turn”), Old Norse ríða (“to wind”)), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist, writhe”). Compare Lithuanian ri?sti (“to unbend, wind, roll”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: r?th, IPA^(key): /?a?ð/
• Rhymes: -a?ð

Verb

writhe (third-person singular simple present writhes, present participle writhing, simple past writhed or (archaic) wrothe, past participle writhed or (archaic) writhen)

1. (transitive) To twist, to wring (something).
2. (transitive) To contort (a part of the body).
   • 1906, Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:

     She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good.

     She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood.

     They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,

     Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,

     Cold, on the stroke of midnight,

     The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

3. (intransitive) To twist or contort the body; to be distorted.
4. (transitive) To extort.

Translations

Noun

writhe (plural writhes)

1. (rare) A contortion.
2. (knot theory) The number of negative crossings subtracted from the number of positive crossings in a knot

Anagrams

• Wither, whiter, wither, wither-

Middle English

Verb

writhe

1. Alternative form of writhen