Itches

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈɪt͡ʃɪz/

Definitions

1. To experience an uncomfortable sensation on the skin that provokes a desire to scratch
2. To have a feeling of irritation on the surface of the skin, often causing one to want to rub or scrape the area
3. To undergo an annoying or irritating physical sensation that compels an individual to alleviate it by scratching or touching the affected region

Etymology: "Itches" is simply the third-person singular present form of the verb "itch" (and the plural of the noun), so the history belongs to "itch" itself. That word comes from Old English "ġiċċan," meaning to itch, and its ancestor reached back to a Proto-Germanic verb whose origin is unknown. Scholars have not been able to link it convincingly to any other root, so the word's deepest past is a blank. What is clear is how close it stays to its relatives across the Germanic languages. Dutch "jeuken," German "jucken," Low German "jocken," and Scots "yeuk" all carry the same sense, which tells us the sensation was named in the same way by the ancestors of all these peoples long before written records.

Synonyms: scratches, irritations

Antonyms: comforts