annoying

When something is annoying, it is irritating, bothersome, vexing, exasperating, or any of the many other English words describing things that cause annoyance. But would you call that same thing odious, that is, “hateful” or “disgusting”? Calling something that is merely annoying odious might be a little extreme, but etymologically speaking, it’s no stretch.

The adjective annoying, recorded in English around 1325–75, is based on the even older verb annoy. (See our entry at -ing for the nitty-gritty on that word element.) Annoy entered English around 1250–1300, borrowed from the French anoier, among other forms, and meaning “to molest, harm, tire.” This French verb is derived from the Late Latin inodiāre, “to cause aversion.”

The Latin verb inodiāre developed from the expression mihi in odiō est, meaning “I dislike.” A literal translation of this expression is “it is in hatred to me,” with in odiō meaning “in hatred.” Odiō is a form of odium, a word directly borrowed into English and meaning “dislike, aversion, hatred,” among other senses. An adjective form of odium in Latin was odiōsus, source of the English odious. And that’s how annoying is connected to odious.

Dig deeper

Another word related to annoying is noisome. Noisome is a tricky word because it looks similar to noisy, but the two do not share a common origin. Noisome means “offensive or disgusting, as an odor” or “harmful or injurious to health; noxious.”

Found in English around 1350–1400, noisome is based on the Middle English noy, a variant of annoy. The second part of the word, –some, was once a very productive English suffix used to form adjectives, as in one of the synonyms for annoying we noted above: bothersome. Can you think of other words that feature the suffix –some?

Have ever been so bored that it downright annoyed you? You may have experienced ennui. While feeling ennui is no fun, ennui is a great word—and, as we trust you already know, learning new words is a great way to cure ennui.

Ennui means “a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest”—or more generally, “boredom.” Ennui was borrowed directly into English from French, in turn from the same Latin roots as annoy.