different between shudder vs writhe

English

Etymology

From Middle English *shudderen, *schuderen (suggested by Middle English shuddering, schudering (“shaking, quivering, shuddering”)), from Middle Dutch schudderen and/or Middle Low German schodderen, iterative forms of the verb at hand in Dutch schudden, Low German schüdden (both “to shake”), German schütten (“to pour”), from Proto-Germanic *skudjan?, from Proto-Indo-European *skewd?-. From Low German are also borrowed German schaudern (“to shudder”), Danish skudre.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???d?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???d?/
• Homophone: shutter (accents with flapping)
• Rhymes: -?d?(?)
• Hyphenation: shud?der

Noun

shudder (plural shudders)

1. A shivering tremor, often from fear or horror.
2. A moment of almost pleasurable fear; a frisson.

Synonyms

• (shivering tremor): jiggle, quake, rumble, quiver
• (frisson): shiver (cold), quiver, tingle, thrill

Translations

Verb

shudder (third-person singular simple present shudders, present participle shuddering, simple past and past participle shuddered)

1. (intransitive) To shake nervously, often from fear or horror.
2. (intransitive) To vibrate jerkily.

Synonyms

• (shake nervously): palpitate, shiver, shake, quake
• (vibrate jerkily): flutter, jiggle, shake, wiggle

Translations

See also

• judder

References

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