The core of 'wriggling' lies in the Middle English verb 'wriggle', a word of Germanic origin that imitates small, restless, twisting movements. It is related to similar words in Low German and Dutch, suggesting a shared root evoking the action of turning or bending repeatedly. This onomatopoeic or expressive root evolved to specifically describe the sinuous, squirming motion of creatures like worms, eels, or a restless child. The addition of the '-ing' suffix, a stable feature from Old English, creates the adjective and noun forms that capture the ongoing nature or the instance of this characteristically twisting action.

The word 'wriggling' is derived from the verb 'wriggle', which is of Middle English origin, likely from Middle Low German wriggeln or Dutch wriggelen, frequentative forms related to the concept of moving back and forth. The suffix '-ing' is from Old English '-ende', '-unge', forming present participles and verbal nouns.