Vexynge

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Definitions

1. Causing irritation, worry or mild distress, as an old spelling of the adjective meaning troublesome and annoying
2. Archaically describing something that troubles, irritates or greatly annoys a person over a period of time
3. An older form of the word for something bothersome that frustrates or distresses people and tries their patience

Etymology: "Vexynge" is a Middle English form of the verb "vex" and its present participle, which in this spelling works as an adjective meaning "causing annoyance." The root is Latin "vexare," meaning to shake, jolt, or harass, from "vexus," the past participle of "vehere," to carry. The original sense was physical: to jerk or agitate something, and the notion of mental distress came later. "Vex" reached English in the 14th century, borrowed through Old French "vexer" from the Latin frequentative "vexare." Its earliest English uses were already close to the modern sense of troubling or distressing someone, though the physical meaning of shaking persisted for a while. The "-ynge" ending is the Middle English participial suffix, the ancestor of modern "-ing," so "vexynge" is simply the spelling of "vexing" in an older English orthography.