# wrist

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɹɪst/ · frequency rank #7,088

## Definitions
1. The complex joint between forearm bones, carpus, and metacarpals where the hand is attached to the arm; the carpus in a narrow sense.
2. A stud or pin which forms a journal.

## Etymology
From Middle English wrist, from Old English wrist, from Proto-West Germanic *wristu, from Proto-Germanic *wristuz (compare Old Frisian wrist, Low German Wrist, German Rist (“back of hand, instep, withers”), Swedish vrist), from Proto-Germanic *wrīþaną (“to twist, turn”). More at writhe.

## Easily confused with
- **writ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wrist-vs-writ)
- **write** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wrist-vs-write)
- **wit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wit-vs-wrist)
- **wis** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wis-vs-wrist)
- **wait** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wait-vs-wrist)
- **west** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/west-vs-wrist)
- **wish** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wish-vs-wrist)
- **wise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wise-vs-wrist)
- **wilt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wilt-vs-wrist)
- **whit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whit-vs-wrist)
- **Witt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/witt-vs-wrist)
- **wisp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wisp-vs-wrist)
- **worst** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/worst-vs-wrist)
- **waist** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waist-vs-wrist)
- **Weiss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/weiss-vs-wrist)
- **whisk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whisk-vs-wrist)
- **wring** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wring-vs-wrist)
- **wrest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wrest-vs-wrist)
- **whilst** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/whilst-vs-wrist)
- **wright** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wright-vs-wrist)

## Common misspellings (8)
`rwist`, `wirst`, `wrisst`, `wristt`, `writs`, `wrrist`, `wrsit`, `wwrist`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/wrist