annoy.
To disturb or irritate, especially by continued or repeated acts; to bother with unpleasant deeds.
Meaning & usage
To disturb or irritate, especially by continued or repeated acts; to bother with unpleasant deeds.
Marc loved his sister, but when she annoyed him he wanted to switch her off.
To molest; to harm; to injure.
to annoy an army by impeding its march, or by a cannonade
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Italic *en Proto-Italic *en- Latin in- Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed-der. Proto-Italic *odjom Latin odium Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Late Latin inodiāre Old French enoiierbor. Middle English anoyen English annoy From Middle English anoyen, from Old French anoier (“to bother, disturb”), from Late Latin inodiāre (“to make loathsome”), derived from Latin odium (“loathing, hatred”). Displaced native Old English dreċċan, gremman.
A feeling of discomfort or vexation caused by what one dislikes.
That which causes such a feeling.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English anoy, from Old French enui. Doublet of ennui.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.