cringe

Origin

The verb is derived from Middle English crengen (“to bend in a haughty manner; to condescend”) [and other forms], from Old English *crenġan, *crenċġan, *crenċan (“to cause to fall or turn”) from Proto-Germanic *krangijaną (“to cause to fall; to cause to turn”), causative of Proto-Germanic *kringaną, *krinkaną (“to fall; to turn; to yield”) (> Old English crin(c)gan (“to yield; to cringe; to fall; to die, perish”)), from Proto-Indo-European *grenǵʰ- (“to turn”)). The causative suffix is from *-janą (suffix forming causatives with the sense ‘to cause to do (the action of the verb)’ from strong verbs). The English word is cognate with Danish krænge (“to turn inside out, evert”), Dutch krengen (“to careen, veer”) and Dutch kring (“circle”), Scots crenge, creenge, creinge, crienge (“to cringe; to shrug”), Swedish kränga (“to careen; to heel, lurch; to toss”), and West Frisian kringe (“to pinch; to poke; to push; to insist, urge”); and is a doublet of crinkle. The noun and adjective are derived from the verb via zero derivation.