tedium

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin taedium (“weariness, irksomeness, disgust”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a word mostly of post-classical use,^[3] from taedet (“it is wearisome, it disgusts”).^[2][6][4][3] Barnhart and Etymonline call the Latin group of uncertain origin;^[4][3] Etymonline and Klein mention a suggested link with Lithuanian tingėti (“to be dull, be listless”).^[3][7] The adjective tedious, recorded from 1412, is also from the Latin noun, through Late Latin taediōsus and Old French tedieus.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state or quality of being tedious; boredom: 1662, in William Petty's Treatise of Taxes.^[2][4][5] Dictionary.com dates it 1655–65.^[8]

Timeline

• 1662 – tediousness, boredom.^[2][4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or state of being tedious; boredom or monotony: the tedium of long night shifts.^[5][9][2]
2. A tedious period of time.^[5]

Related words

• taedium vitae
• tedious
• fastidious

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged records the less common spelling taedium.^[5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins