“Wring” is irregular: wring → wrung → wrung. The same form works for literal twisting and established figurative or phrasal uses where the verb keeps the same conjugation.
ReviewedEvidence2 sourcesSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
The simple past and past participle of “wring” are both “wrung.”
Key details
Confusion Familyirregular merged past and participle
Rule Familyverb forms
Termswring, wrung
Variant ScopeBoth simple past and past participle are “wrung.”
Choose the right form
Decision table for Past Tense of Wring
Meaning / situation
Form / construction
Decision
completed action in simple past
wrung
Use “wrung.”
past participle after have/has/had
wrung
Use “wrung.”
phrasal use such as wring out
wrung out
The irregular form is unchanged.
Quick tests
Verb-form test
Do you need the simple past or past participle of “wring”?
If yes: Use “wrung.”
If no: Use “wring” or “wrings” in a present-tense construction.
Caveat: The verb remains irregular in phrasal constructions; the meaning does not create a separate past-tense form.
Examples
Example
She wrung the water from the cloth.
“Wrung” is the simple past.
Example
He had wrung out the towel before hanging it up.
“Wrung” is also the past participle.
Example
They wring the cloth by hand each day.
The habitual present uses “wring.”
Further guidance
Core difference
Use “wrung” for a completed past action and after auxiliaries when a past participle is required.
Fast Test
If the action is past or a participle is required, choose “wrung”; present-tense contexts keep “wring” or “wrings.”
Usage Boundary
Do not regularize the standard past as “wringed”; phrasal uses such as “wring out” keep the same verb form.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
“Bend” follows the pattern bend → bent → bent. The same inflected form serves a finite simple-past clause and a past-participle construction; surrounding grammar identifies the role. Noun uses such as “a bend” and adjective uses of “bent” are separate from the verb-form decision.
“Bleed” follows the pattern bleed → bled → bled. The same inflected form serves a finite simple-past clause and a past-participle construction; surrounding grammar identifies the role. The verb uses the same irregular form across literal blood-loss and other established verb senses; noun uses are separate.
“Breed” is irregular: breed → bred → bred. The same inflected form serves a finite simple-past clause and a past-participle construction; grammar and surrounding auxiliaries identify the role. The same irregular form applies across reproductive, cultivation, and figurative produce/engender senses, even though those senses remain semantically distinct.
“Bring” follows the pattern bring → brought → brought. The same inflected form serves a finite simple-past clause and a past-participle construction; surrounding grammar identifies the role. The reviewed standard paradigm is bring → brought → brought; avoid unsupported claims about every dialectal or nonstandard form.
“Build” follows the pattern build → built → built. The same inflected form serves a finite simple-past clause and a past-participle construction; surrounding grammar identifies the role. The ordinary irregular paradigm is build → built → built; do not infer an unreviewed regular past form.
“Catch” follows the pattern catch → caught → caught. The same inflected form serves a finite simple-past clause and a past-participle construction; surrounding grammar identifies the role. For ordinary standard uses of the verb, do not regularize the past as “catched”; the reviewed authorities give “caught” for both past roles.
