Link Centre Dictionary

whine

UK/ˈwaɪ̯n/ US/ˈwaɪ̯n/ fairly common
verb (3) noun (1)

verb

1.

move with a whining sound

  • “The bullets were whining past us”
2.

talk in a tearful manner

Synonyms
3.

noun

1.

Origin

From Middle English whynen, hwinen, whinen, from Old English hwīnan (“to rush, to whizz, to squeal, to whine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīnan, from Proto-Germanic *hwīnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey- (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”). Cognate with Old Norse hvína, whence Icelandic hvína, Norwegian Nynorsk kvina, Swedish vina, and Danish hvine. Despite the strong similarity in sound and meaning, not related with German weinen, Dutch wenen, from Proto-Germanic *wainōną (for which see dialectal English ween (“to weep, lament”)).

Phrases

  • cheese with that whine
  • coil whine
  • whining Willy
  • wine-whine merger

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.