spelling of: wretch or retch?

Question

correct spelling ?

Answer 1

Depends on if you're describing a person or what the person is doing. Wretch is someone who's miserable and retch is what someone who is trying to vomit does.

Answer 2

These are 2 different words, both spelled correctly. Wretch is a noun (He's a wretch, or She's a wretched person) meaning "sorry" or "pitiful," etc. Retch is a verb meaning "spit up" or "vomit."

Answer 3

They are two different words with completely different meanings.

wretch
n.
A miserable, unfortunate, or unhappy person.
A person regarded as base, mean, or despicable: "a stony adversary, an inhuman wretch" (Shakespeare).
Synonyms: bad-egg, cad, scoundrel, villain.

retch
noun
an involuntary spasm of ineffectual vomiting.
Synonyms: be sick, lose one's lunch, regurgitate, retch, spew, throw up, upchuck.

Answer 4

These are two different words. (homonyms-pronounced the same, different meanings)

wretch: A wretch is someone you pity, as in: the poor wretch. The etymology is below:

O.E. wrecca "wretch, stranger, exile," from P.Gmc. *wrakjan (cf. O.S. wrekkio, O.H.G. reckeo "a banished person, exile," Ger. recke "renowned warrior, hero"), related to O.E. wreccan "to drive out, punish" (see wreak). Sense of "vile, despicable person" developed in O.E., reflecting the sorry state of the outcast, as presented in much of Anglo-Saxon verse (e.g. "The Wanderer"). A Ger. word for "misery" is Elend, from O.H.G. elilenti "sojourn in a foreign land, exile."

Retch means to vomit.


The etymology is here:
retch
1548, originally "to clear the throat, to cough up phlegm," from O.E. hræcan "to cough up, spit" (related to hraca "phlegm"), from P.Gmc. *khrækijanan (cf. O.H.G. rahhison "to clear one's throat"), of imitative origin (cf. Lith. kregeti "to grunt"). Meaning "to make efforts to vomit" is from 1850; sense of "to vomit" is first attested 1888.

Answer 5

wretch--a person you feel sorry for
retch--unsuccessful effort to vomit, strain to vomit