Added 9 October 2026
retch
/ɹɛt͡ʃ/ verb
verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about retch at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- To make or experience an unsuccessful effort to vomit; to strain or spasm, as if to vomit; to gag or nearly vomit.
- To vomit; to make or experience a successful effort to vomit.
noun
- An unsuccessful effort to vomit.
verb
- To reck.
verb
- Alternative form of reach.
Origin
From Middle English *recchen, *rechen (attested in arechen), hræcen (“to cough up”), from Old English hrǣċan (“to clear the throat, hawk, spit”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrākijan, from Proto-Germanic *hrēkijaną (“to clear one's throat”), from Proto-Indo-European *kreg- (“to caw, crow”). Cognate with Icelandic hrækja (“to hawk, spit”), Limburgish räöke (“to induce vomiting”), Bavarian reckn (“to retch, gag”) and German recken (“to retch, gag”). Also related with German Rachen (“throat”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)