irk

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.

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

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• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)k

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?

• See also Thesaurus:annoy

• irksome
• irky

• IKR, KRI, Kri, ikr, kir, rik

irk

1. plural of ark