tedious | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

24 entries found.

early 15c., from Old French tedieus, from Late Latin taediosus "wearisome, irksome, tedious," from Latin taedium (see tedium). Related: Tediously; tediousness.

prosy (adj.)

"like prose," hence "dull, tedious," 1814 (in a letter of Jane Austen), from prose + -y (2). Related: Prosiness.

tiresome (adj.)

"tedious," c. 1500, from tire (v.) + -some (1). Related: Tiresomely; tiresomeness.

hoe (v.)

early 15c., "to clear weeds with a hoe," from hoe (n.). Tedious and toilsome work, hence a hard (or long) row to hoe "a difficult task;" hoe (one's) own row "tend to one's affairs." Related: Hoed; hoeing.

nudnik (n.)

"a bore, irritating person," 1947, from Yiddish, with agential suffix -nik + Polish nuda "boredom" or Russian nudnyi "tedious, boring," from Old Church Slavonic *nauda-, from *nauti- "need" (see need (n.)).

Jobation (n.)

"a long, tedious scolding," 1680s, a jocular formation from Job, the patriarch, with a Latinate noun ending, "in allusion to the rebukes he received from his 'comforters'" [Century Dictionary]. A verb jobe is attested from 1660s.

operose (adj.)

"laborious, tedious, involving much labor," 1670s, from Latin operosus "taking great pains, laborious, active, industrious," from opus (genitive operis) "work" (from PIE root *op- "to work, produce in abundance"). Related: Operosely; operoseness; operosity (1620s).

long-winded (adj.)

also longwinded, 1580s, "given to lengthy speeches," from long (adj.) + adjective from wind (n.1) in the secondary Middle English sense "breath in speaking" (early 14c.). "Using much breath," hence "tedious from length."

overlong (adj.)

early 14c., of text, "too lengthy, requiring too much time, very tedious;" from over- + long (adj.). From late 14c. as "lasting too long." Middle English had also overshort "too short, too brief."

preachment (n.)

mid-14c., prechement, "a preaching, a sermon;" earlier "an annoying or tedious speech" (c. 1300), from Old French preechement, from Medieval Latin praediciamentum "preaching, discourse, declaration," from Latin praedicare (see preach (v.)). A doublet of predicament. Related: Preachments.

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