worrisome

Etymology

It is formed from English worry + -some,^[2][3][4][5] from the noun worry according to Etymonline,^[2] from the noun or the verb according to the OED.^[4] The verb worry is from Old English wyrgan (“to strangle”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Causing worry or annoyance: 1828 according to Etymonline,^[2] 1833 in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[3] The OED's first quotation is from 1845, in W. G. Simms's Wigwam and Cabin, where it means both apt to cause worry and given to worrying.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word was formed after the noun worry had come to mean anxiety (1804) and a cause of anxiety (by 1813).^[2] Besides the main sense, "causing worry", it is used of a person inclined to worry or fret.^[3][6] The OED and the Shorter Oxford record the adverb worrisomely from the late 17th century, well before the adjective.^[7][5]

Timeline

• 1828 – causing worry or annoyance.^[2] The Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to 1833, the OED to 1845.^[3][4]
• 1845 – given to worrying.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Causing worry or anxiety; troubling: worrisome test results.^[3][6][4]
2. Inclined to worry or fret.^[3][6][4]

Word family

• worrisomely
• worrisomeness

Related words

• worry

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press