The Crying Game

For writers it is useful to have a number of synonyms and idioms to describe the same thing. It strikes me that the many terms for ‘crying’ are particularly useful as it gives the reader an idea of the emotional state of the individual.



Grizzle is British slang – the term has always meant ‘greying’ – and is normally used to describe the crying of an infant over a trivial matter.



Weep was not used in this sense until the end of the 16th century, prior to that it was used as a synonym for ‘shout, cry out’.



Tears is not used in the crying sense until the middle of the 14th century.



Sob is found from the early 13th century – although we had to wait until 1911 to hear our first sob story.



Wails were not heard in the crying sense until the 14th century.



Bawl really means to ‘howl like a dog’ or ‘to reprimand loudly’, the crying sense seems to have evolved as a misunderstanding.



Howl has been used to mean ‘cry aloud’ since the 14th century – and likely came to refer to crying when describing loud weeping.



Snivel really refers to a runny nose, and came to be used for crying as one without the other is unlikely.



Whimper has been used for crying since the early 18th century.



Whine is another transferred word, initially associated with the sound made when crying quietly.



Squall has been used to mean cry aloud since around 1630.



Mewl is correctly the sound made by cats, clearly transferred when considered to be a similar noise when crying.



Blubber has been known since the early 15th century.



Keening has only been used as a synonym for crying since 1811.



Turn on the waterworks originated in the 19th century. It is from a theatrical reference to a mechanism simulating tears on stage and eventually used as an expression.



Piping your eye is rarely used these days, but is an archaic phrase so old it is impossible to know how it originated.