Outch

Part of speech: interjection

Definitions

1. A sharp exclamation, a variant spelling of a common cry, uttered when someone feels sudden pain or is hurt
2. An interjection people blurt out when they are stung, bumped, or otherwise startled by a quick jolt of pain
3. A cry of sudden physical pain or sharp discomfort, written as an alternate form of a familiar exclamation

Etymology: "Outch" is a variant spelling of the interjection "ouch," the sound people make at sudden pain. Interjections like this are usually imitative, so the word has no older root in English to trace. Its spelling has varied, and "outch" appears alongside "ouch" in older print, but both forms express the same reaction. A separate, unrelated "ouch" once named a jeweller's setting for a gem. It came from Old French "nouche," and in English "a nouch" was misdivided as "an ouch," which is how the noun lost its initial "n." The pain interjection and the jewellery noun are homonyms that happen to look the same.

Synonyms: ouch