Word Confusion: Retch versus Wretch

Posted March 20, 2017 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
22 Dec 2022

Too many wretches have confused retch and wretch that a Word Confusion for this pair of wretched heterographs was a necessity.

It’s a wretched thing when one reads of a retch of a person doing horrible things. Even worse when I’m thinking of this person retching, er, vomiting everywhere, when it turns out that they’re merely a miserable person. In other words, a wretch.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Retch Wretch

Two girls in pretty pink dresses with one retching into the grass

Oktoberfest 2011 Drunken Female is Usien’s own work under the CC0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

Yep, she’s definitely retching up all that beer.


Elderly Japanese man lying back in a wheelchair surrounded by his worldly goods, tied on around the sides

Homeless Man, Tokyo, 2008, is MichaelMaggs’ own work under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

He’s but a poor wretch, out on the streets.

Part of Grammar:
Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive

Plural for the noun: retches
Gerund: retching

Third person present verb: retches
Past tense or past participle: retched
Present participle: retching

Noun

Plural for the noun: wretches

The act or action of vomiting


Noun:
A movement or sound of vomiting

Verb, intransitive:
Make the sound and movement of vomiting

  • Make efforts to vomit

Verb, transitive:
To vomit

A person


A deplorably unfortunate or unhappy person

  • [Informal] A despicable or contemptible person
Examples:
Noun:
That retching is making me sick to my stomach.

With a sudden retch, he vomited all over the floor.

Verb, intransitive:
Listening to him retch is making me sick to my stomach.

The sour taste in her mouth made her retch.

Verb, transitive:
Jerry? He’s retching his heart out in the bathroom.

He retched up a thin stream of vomit.

Can the poor wretch’s corpse tell us anything?

Those ungrateful wretches.

I can’t believe you did this, you wretch!

Derivatives:
Adjective: wretched, wretcheder, wretchedest
Adverb: wretchedly
Noun: wretchedness
History of the Word:
Mid-19th century is a variant of the dialect reach, from a Germanic base meaning spittle. Old English wrecca (also in the sense of banished person) is related to the German Recke meaning warrior, hero.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Resources for Retch versus Wretch

Apple Dictionary.com

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Pinterest Photo Credits:

Vomiting Erbrechen Drunk is Usien’s own work under the GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0 licenses, via Wikimedia Commons.

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