ENGLISH
REFERENCE

wriggle

n.
US //ˈɹɪɡəɫ// UK //ɹˈɪɡəl// wrig·gle
Origin

From wrig + -le (frequentative suffix). Compare Dutch wriggelen (“to wriggle, squirm”), Low German wriggeln (“to wriggle”). Related to Old English wrigian (“to turn, wend, hie, go move”), from Proto-Germanic *wrigōną (“to wriggle”).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Idioms1 entry

Last updated April 17, 2026