irk

See also: ırk and Irk

English

Etymology

From Middle English irken (“to tire, grow weary”), from Old Norse yrkja (“to work”), from Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną (“to work”), from Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- (“to work”). Cognate with Icelandic yrkja (“to compose”), Swedish yrka (“to urge, argue”), Old English wyrċan (“to work”). More at work.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɜːk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɝk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)k

Verb

irk (third-person singular simple present irks, present participle irking, simple past and past participle irked)

1. (transitive) to irritate; annoy; bother

   It irks me doing all this work and have someone wreck it.

   • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC:

     Let no man pray to Māna-Yood-Sushāī, for who shall trouble Māna with mortal woes or irk him with the sorrows of all the houses of Earth?

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:annoy

Derived terms

• irksome
• irky

Translations

to irritate; annoy; bother

• Bulgarian: безпокоя (bg) (bezpokoja), смущавам (bg) (smuštavam), досаждам (bg) (dosaždam)
• Cornish: veksya
• Czech: rozčilovat (cs) impf, štvát (cs) impf, dopalovat impf
• Finnish: ärsyttää (fi)
• French: agacer (fr), irriter (fr)
• German: ärgern (de)
• Hungarian: bosszant (hu)
• Italian: infastidire (it), irritare (it), seccare (it)
• Latin: piget, taedet
• Maori: hakirara, whakahōhā, whakakūrakuraku, rangirangi, whakatōwenewene
• Norwegian: irritere (no), plage (no)
• Polish: drażnić (pl)
• Portuguese: aborrecer (pt)
• Russian: раздража́ть (ru) (razdražátʹ)
• Spanish: fastidiar (es)

Anagrams

• IKR, KRI, Kri, ikr, kir, rik

Manx

Noun

irk

1. plural of ark