🤕 A sore neck 🙅 A stubborn person

stiffneck

5.6

Neck pain that makes it hard to move the head

noun
/ˈstɪfˌnɛk/

: tortícolis

After a long flight, she developed a stiffneck and could barely turn her head.

Examples

I have a stiffneck after sleeping in a strange position.
Using a proper pillow can help prevent a stiffneck in the morning.
After a long flight, she developed a stiffneck and could barely turn her head.
He missed work because his stiffneck made it hard to drive.
He woke up with a stiffneck this morning.
Using a proper pillow can help prevent a stiffneck in the morning.
He missed work because his stiffneck made it hard to drive.

How Stiff

spasm

Specialized

43 3.9

stiffneck

5.6

Surface Forms

stiffneck singular

stiffnecks plural

Morphology

stiffneck = stiff + neck (transparent) = stiff + neck

Literal, direct combination of 'stiff' and 'neck' describing a neck that is rigid or painful to move; learners who know the components will understand this meaning.

Etymology

Stiffneck comes from two simple English words, stiff ('rigid') and neck ('the part that holds your head'). So a stiffneck is when your neck feels tight or sore and is hard to move.