vex

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English vexen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman vexer and Middle French vexer,^[5][6][3] from Latin vexō (“to shake, jolt; to harass, trouble, annoy”).^[5][7][8] The MED also names Old Northern French wexer and the Latin verb itself,^[2] and Barnhart likewise allows a direct borrowing from that verb.^[9] Both forms are recorded from the last quarter of the 14th century, and were frequent from the early 15th in legal contexts, of harassing someone with claims or abuses of power.^[5] The OED calls the Latin verb of uncertain origin, perhaps related to vehō (“to carry”).^[5] Etymonline, Klein and Weekley derive it from *vexus, a form beside vectus, the past participle of that verb, itself from Proto-Indo-European *wegh- (“to go, move, transport in a vehicle”).^{[7][10][11][4]} De Vaan explains it either as an iterative built on such a participle or as an independent present *weg-s-.^[12] The Latin verb also gave Spanish vejar and Italian vessare.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To trouble or harass by aggression or encroachment: about 1410, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[5] Etymonline dates "upset, anger" to the late 14th century, Barnhart has about 1415,^[7][9] and the Anglo-Norman verb is recorded in 1390–1412.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word moved from outward harassment to inner states: by 1418 it meant to annoy or irritate, now mostly over trivial matters, and before 1425 to distress or make anxious.^[5] Of disease and pain it is recorded from about 1425, in Hoccleve,^[5] now an archaic or poetic use.^[8] The intransitive use, to fret or worry, appears in 1592;^[5] it survived in dialect, in Scotland, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire and the Isle of Wight, and in Newfoundland it denoted sorrow or grief.^[13] Before 1613 a question or problem could vex a person by being hard to resolve, and a matter could itself be vexed by long debate from 1617;^[5] Weekley sees the Latin sense of shaking still present in the phrase vexed question.^[11] Johnson (1755) gives three senses: to plague or torment, to disturb, as in "the vext sea", and to trouble with slight provocations.^[14] A Scottish noun, a cause or state of grief, is recorded from 1815, in Scott's Guy Mannering,^[5][8] and the Caribbean adjective vex, from a regional pronunciation of vexed without the final d, from 1843.^[5] Green's Dictionary of Slang dates this West Indian use from 1862 and follows it into Selvon's Lonely Londoners (1956).^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1410 – to trouble or harass by aggression or encroachment.^[5]
• 1418 – to annoy, irritate.^[5]
• before 1425 – to distress mentally; reflexive, to trouble oneself.^[5]
• c. 1425 – of disease or pain, to afflict physically.^[5]
• 1592 – intransitive, to fret or worry.^[5]
• before 1613 – of a problem, to perplex.^[5]
• 1617 – to debate a matter at excessive length.^[5]
• 1815 – Scottish noun, a cause or state of grief.^[5]
• 1843 – Caribbean adjective, angry, annoyed.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To annoy or irritate, especially over small things: The endless delays vexed the passengers.^[16][5][8]
2. To trouble or distress deeply; to make anxious: The loss of the farm vexed him for years.^[16][3][5]
3. Of a question or problem, to perplex or puzzle: The inscription has long vexed scholars.^[5][8]
4. To debate a matter at excessive length.^[5][8]
5. To trouble or harass by aggression or interference; now rare.^[5][8]
6. To feel distressed; to fret or worry; now rare, and regional.^[5][8][13]
7. (archaic) Of disease or pain, to afflict physically.^[8][3][5]
8. (archaic) To toss about or agitate, chiefly of the sea in poetry.^[16][8]

Noun

1. (Scottish) A cause or state of vexation or grief.^{[5][8][3][13]}

Adjective

1. (chiefly Caribbean) Angry, annoyed.^[5][8][15]

Word family

• vexedly
• vexer
• vexingly
• vexed
• vexation
• vexatious

Related words

• vehicle
• convex
• way

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins