different between wrench vs wench

English

Alternative forms

• (15^th century): wrenche; (15^th century): wrinche; (16^th century): wringe

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: r?nch IPA^(key): /??nt????/
• Rhymes: -?nt?

Etymology 1

From Middle English wrench, from Old English wren?, from Proto-Germanic *wrankiz (“a turning, twisting”). Compare German Rank (“plot, intrigue”).

Noun

wrench (plural wrenches)

1. A movement that twists or pulls violently; a tug. [from 16th c.]
   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21

     With a wrench, which threw his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned and sprang at us.

2. An injury caused by a violent twisting or pulling of a limb; strain, sprain. [from 16th c.]
3. (obsolete) A trick or artifice. [from 8th c.]
   • c. 1210, MS. Cotton Caligula A IX f.246

     Mon mai longe liues wene; / Ac ofte him liedh the wrench.

4. (obsolete) Deceit; guile; treachery. [from 13th c.]
5. (obsolete) A turn at an acute angle. [from 16th c.]
6. (archaic) A winch or windlass. [from 16th c.]
7. (obsolete) A screw. [from 16th c.]
8. A distorting change from the original meaning. [from 17th c.]
9. (US) A hand tool for making rotational adjustments, such as fitting nuts and bolts, or fitting pipes; a spanner. [from 18th c.]
10. (Britain) An adjustable spanner used by plumbers.
11. A violent emotional change caused by separation. [from 19th c.]
12. (physics) In screw theory, a screw assembled from force and torque vectors arising from application of Newton's laws to a rigid body. [from 19th c.]
13. (obsolete) means; contrivance

    • But weighing one thing with another he gave Britain for lost; but resolved to make his profit of this business of Britain, as a quarrel for war; and that of Naples, as a wrench and mean for peace

14. In coursing, the act of bringing the hare round at less than a right angle, worth half a point in the recognised code of points for judging.

Synonyms

• (tool): spanner (UK, Australia)

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English wrenchen, from Old English wren?an, from Proto-Germanic *wrankijan?. Compare German renken.

Verb

wrench (third-person singular simple present wrenches, present participle wrenching, simple past and past participle wrenched)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To violently move in a turn or writhe. [from 11th c.]
2. (transitive) To pull or twist violently. [from 13th c.]

3. (transitive, obsolete) To turn aside or deflect. [from 13th c.]
4. (transitive, obsolete) To slander. [from 14th c.]
5. (transitive, obsolete) To tighten with or as if with a winch. [from 16th c.]
6. (transitive) To injure (a joint) by pulling or twisting. [from 16th c.]

7. (transitive) To distort from the original meaning. [from 16th c.]
8. (transitive, obsolete) To thrust a weapon in a twisting motion. [from 16th c.]
9. (intransitive, fencing, obsolete) To disarm an opponent by whirling his or her blade away. [from 18th c.]
10. (transitive) To rack with pain. [from 18th c.]
11. (transitive) To deprive by means of a violent pull or twist. [from 18th c.]
12. (transitive) To use the tool known as a wrench. [from 19th c.]

Translations

Further reading

• wrench on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Wrench on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

English

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English wench, wenche (“female baby; girl (especially unmarried); maiden, young woman; bondwoman; serving maid; beloved, sweetheart; concubine, mistress; harlot, prostitute”) [and other forms], a shortened form of Middle English wenchel (“girl; maiden; child”), from Old English wen?el, win?el (“child; servant; slave”), from Proto-Germanic *wankil?, from Proto-Germanic *wankijan? (“to sway; waver”). The English word is cognate with Old High German wenken (“to waver; to give way, yield”), wank?n (“to totter”).

The verb and adjective are derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /w?nt?/
• Rhymes: -?nt?

Noun

wench (plural wenches)

1. (archaic, now dialectal or humorous, possibly offensive) A girl or young woman, especially a buxom or lively one.
   1. (specifically) A girl or young woman of a lower class.
2. (archaic or dialectal) Used as a term of endearment for a female person, especially a wife, daughter, or girlfriend: darling, sweetheart.
3. (archaic) A woman servant; a maidservant.
4. (archaic) A promiscuous woman; a mistress (“other woman in an extramarital relationship”).

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:promiscuous woman, Thesaurus:mistress
5. (archaic) A prostitute.
6. (US, archaic or historical) A black woman (of any age), especially if in a condition of servitude.

   Synonym: (dated, literary, now offensive) negress

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: wenke

Translations

Verb

wench (third-person singular simple present wenches, present participle wenching, simple past and past participle wenched)

1. (intransitive, archaic, now humorous) To frequent prostitutes; to whore; also, to womanize.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• wencher

Translations

References

Anagrams

• chewn