irk – English verb conjugation

Nominal Forms

Infinitive: to irk
Participle: irked
Gerund: irking

Cognates

-

Indicative

Subjunctive

Conditional

Imperative

you	irk
we	Let's irk
you	irk

Indicative

Conditional

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

to cause someone to be upset or displeased

aggravate, annoy, antagonize, bother, bug, chap someone's hide, exasperate, get on someone's nerves, get on someone's wick, get someone's back up, get someone's dander up, get someone's goat, get someone's Irish up, get up, give someone the shits, grind one's gears, grotch, hack off, harsh one's mellow, hassle, jazz, nark, peeve, provoke, put someone's back up, raise someone's hackles, rile, rub the wrong way, ruffle some feathers, ruffle someone's feathers, tick off, try one's patience, vex, wind up

bother

irritate, annoy, vex, provoke, disturb, incense, harass, infuriate

Antonyms

bother

solace, peace, comfort, quiet

Additional Information

Phrasal Verbs

Etymology

1. c.1460, irken "be weary of, be disgusted with;" earlier intrans., "to feel weary" (c.1330). Of uncertain origin, perhaps related to O.N. yrkja "work" (from PIE base *werg- "to work;" see urge (v.)), or M.H.G. erken "to disgust." Modern sense of "annoy" is from 1483. An adj., irk "weary, tired" is attested from c.1300 in northern and midlands writing. Modern adj. irksome "bothersome, burdensome" is recorded from 1513.
2. Inherited 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”). Doublet of work. See: Proto-Germanic '*wurkijaną', Icelandic 'yrkja', Swedish 'yrka'.

Sample Sentences