What does ouches mean?
Ouches are cries or short exclamations of pain, such as those someone might make after hitting a finger, straining a muscle, or receiving an unexpected bump. The expression is informal and immediate, communicating discomfort more vividly and conversationally than a formal description such as “a cry of pain.” Plural “ouches” is used when someone gives more than one such cry or when a narrative summarizes several reactions to injury. The related verb use, as in “my shoulder ouches,” similarly belongs to informal English and means that a body part hurts. Although the ordinary exclamation is normally the singular “ouch!”, the plural form is useful in descriptions of repeated or multiple reactions. The word belongs to everyday speech more readily than to formal reports, where a writer may instead say “cries of pain” or specify the injury directly.
A cry, sound, or short exclamation expressing pain.
"He hit his elbow and immediately let out an ouch."
Informal; the plural is ouches, while ouch is the usual form of the exclamation.
To hurt or cause pain, especially in an informal bodily or idiomatic sense.
"My knee ouches whenever I bend it too far."
The third-person singular present is ouches. This use is informal and often appears in expressions such as “my back ouches.”
The noun is already plural; its singular form is ouch.
"The impact produced two ouches from the crowd."
“Ouch” compresses an entire grimace of pain into one unmistakable syllable.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does ouches come from?
Ouch is an English interjection of uncertain origin, generally understood as an imitative expression of sudden pain. It developed into a noun denoting a cry of pain and was subsequently extended to informal verb uses meaning to hurt. The plural ouches follows the regular English pattern of adding -es to a noun ending in a sibilant sound.
Related word forms
How ouches is actually used
As a plural noun, ouches is informal and usually refers to separate cries of pain. The exclamation itself is normally written as “ouch!” rather than “ouches!”; the third-person verb form is chiefly informal.