English
whine
Etymology

From Middle English whynen, hwinen, whinen, from Old English hwīnan, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīnan, from Proto-Germanic *hwīnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwey-.

Pronunciation
  • enPR: wīn, IPA: /waɪn/, /ʍaɪn/, [ʍʌɪ̯n], [ʍäːn], [ʍɑe̯n]
Noun

whine (plural whines)

  1. A long-drawn, high-pitched complaining cry or sound.
  2. A complaint or criticism.
    I need to have a quick whine about my boss before we start talking about the holiday.
Translations Verb

whine (whines, present participle whining; simple past and past participle whined)

  1. (intransitive) To utter a high-pitched cry.
  2. (intransitive) To make a sound resembling such a cry.
    The jet engines whined at take off.
  3. (intransitive) To complain or protest with a whine or as if with a whine.
    • 1936 Feb. 15, Ernest Hemingway, letter ↗ to Maxwell Perkins:
      Feel awfully about F. Scott Fitzgerald... I always knew he couldn't think—he never could—but he had a marvelous talent and the thing is to use it—not whine in public.
  4. (intransitive) To move with a whining sound.
    The jet whined into the air.
    The wind whined and moaned through the trees.
  5. (transitive) To utter with the sound of a whine.
    The child whined all his complaints.
    Kelly Queen was whining that the boss made him put on his tie.
Conjugation
Conjugation of whine

infinitive (to) whine
present tense past tense
1st-person singular whine whined
2nd-person singular

 whine, whinest†

 whined, whinedst†
3rd-person singular

 whines, whineth†

 whined
plural

 whine

subjunctive

 whine

whined
imperative

 whine

—
participles

 whining

 whined

†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Russian: ~ с воем
Translations

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