wrenning

Etymology

From wren + -ing.

wrenning means the old custom of stoning a wren to death on St Stephen's Day. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why “wrenning” is a great word

WRENNING — [Noun] The historical custom, practiced notably on St. Stephen's Day, of hunting and killing a wren as part of a folk ritual. From wren (the small bird) + -ing (suffix forming nouns denoting actions or practices). Unlike 'ritual' (a general term for prescribed ceremony) or 'hunting' (the broad pursuit of game), wrenning denotes a specific, calendrical persecution of a single, symbolically charged quarry. It is the chill of a December morning, the procession of villagers through frost-hardened lanes, and the tiny, limp body borne aloft on a holly branch—a testament to the human compulsion to formalize even our smallest cruelties into tradition.

noun

The old custom of stoning a wren to death on St Stephen's Day.