wretch
noun /retʃ/
/retʃ/
- (literary) a person that you feel sympathy for or are sad about
- a poor wretch
- The poor wretch has lost his mother.
- (often humorous) an evil, unpleasant or annoying person
- The little wretches have splashed water all over the bathroom.
Word OriginOld English wrecca (also in the sense ‘banished person’), of West Germanic origin; related to German Recke ‘warrior, hero’, also to the verb wreak.