Whinge comes from Old English hwinsian (to whine, complain), via Middle English whingen (to complain peevishly); modern English whinge means to complain persistently and fretfully. In current use it is a verb meaning "to complain persistently and peevishly". That sense is explained by the older material without requiring a speculative semantic step: the inherited or borrowed base supplies the field of meaning, while the English formation fixes its modern role. The history is mainly one of transmission into English, with the older form and sense carried through borrowing or adaptation. For dictionary purposes, the important point is the continuity between the older form, the route into English, and the present lexical sense.