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anguish

Pronunciation: /ˈæŋ.ɡwɪʃ/

The English word “anguish” has 3 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. Extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress; an emotional state caused by intense misery or suffering.

verb

  1. To suffer pain.
  2. To cause to suffer pain.

Etymology

From Middle English angwissh, anguishe, angoise, from Anglo-Norman anguise, anguisse, from Old French angoisse, from Latin angustia (“narrowness, scarcity, difficulty, distress”), from angustus (“narrow, difficult”), from angere (“to press together, cause pain, distress”). See angst, the Germanic cognate, and anger.

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