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itch

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A sensation felt on an area of the skin that causes a person or animal to want to scratch said area.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ich
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɪtʃ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A sensation felt on an area of the skin that causes a person or animal to want to scratch said area.

  2. A constant teasing desire or want.

verb

  1. intransitivestative

    To feel itchy; to feel a need to be scratched.

  2. Have a strong desire or urge to do something

    “She is itching to start the project.”

  3. Cause to perceive an itch

  4. transitive

    To cause to feel an itch.

  5. Scrape or rub as if to relieve itching

  6. transitivecolloquial

    To scratch or rub so as to relieve an itch.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A sensation felt on an area of the skin that causes a person or animal to want to scratch said area.

Used this way, itch is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use itch

  • “He has a bad case of the itch.”noun
  • “She is itching to start the project.”verb
  • “I'm itching--the air is so dry!”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

jock itchitch miteground itchyear itchskin itchitch like

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • itchingnounInflected form

    An irritating cutaneous sensation that produces a desire to scratch.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • itch mitenounCompound term

    Whitish mites that attack the skin of humans and other animals.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: sensation felt on an area of the skin that causes a person

scabiesscratch

verb

Sense: to feel itchy

rub

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.