different between bother vs nag

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Scots bauther, bather (“to bother”). Origin unknown. Perhaps related to Scots pother (“to make a stir or commotion, bustle”), also of unknown origin. Compare English pother (“to poke, prod”), variant of potter (“to poke”). More at potter. Perhaps related to Irish bodhaire (“noise”), Irish bodhraim (“to deafen, annoy”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: b??-th?r, IPA^(key): /?b?ð??/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): [?b?ð?(?)]
• (UK) IPA^(key): [?b?ð?(?)]
  • Rhymes: -?ð?(r)
• (US) IPA^(key): [?b?ð?]

Verb

bother (third-person singular simple present bothers, present participle bothering, simple past and past participle bothered)

1. (transitive) To annoy, to disturb, to irritate.

2. (intransitive) To feel care or anxiety; to make or take trouble; to be troublesome.
3. (intransitive) To do something which is of negligible inconvenience.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive or the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• (annoy): annoy, disturb, irritate, put out, vex; see also Thesaurus:annoy
• (make or take trouble): care, mind; see also Thesaurus:care

Derived terms

• bebother

Translations

References

Noun

bother (countable and uncountable, plural bothers)

1. Fuss, ado.

   There was a bit of bother at the hairdresser's when they couldn't find my appointment in the book.
2. Trouble, inconvenience.

   Yes, I can do that for you - it's no bother.

Synonyms

• (fuss, ado): See also Thesaurus:commotion
• (trouble, inconvenience): See also Thesaurus:nuisance

Derived terms

• bothersome
• spot of bother

Translations

Interjection

bother!

1. A mild expression of annoyance.
   • 1926, A A Milne, Winnie the Pooh, Methuen & Co., Ltd., Chapter 2 ...in which Pooh goes visiting and gets into a tight place:

     "Oh, help!" said Pooh. "I'd better go back."

     "Oh, bother!" said Pooh. "I shall have to go on."

     "I can't do either!" said Pooh. "Oh, help and bother!"

Synonyms

• botheration, blast, dang (US), darn, drat, phooey, fiddlesticks

Translations

Related terms

• be bothered
• bothered
• bothersome

Anagrams

• boreth

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?næ?/
• (North American also) IPA^(key): /ne??/, IPA^(key): /n??/
• Rhymes: -æ?

Etymology 1

From Middle English nagge, cognate with Dutch negge.

Noun

nag (plural nags)

1. A small horse; a pony.
3. An old, useless horse.

   Synonyms: (Northern England, Scotland, dialectal, archaic) aver, dobbin, hack, jade, plug
4. (obsolete, derogatory) A paramour.
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, III. x. 11:

     Yon ribaudred nag of Egypt – Whom leprosy o'ertake!

Coordinate terms

• (old useless horse): bum (racing)

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably from a North Germanic source; compare Swedish nagga (“to gnaw, grumble”), Danish nage, Icelandic nagga (“to complain”).

Verb

nag (third-person singular simple present nags, present participle nagging, simple past and past participle nagged)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To continuously remind or complain to (someone) in an annoying way, often about insignificant or unnecessary matters.

Anyone would think that I nagged at you, Amanda! (From Amanda! by Robin Klein)

1. To bother with persistent thoughts or memories.

   The notion that he forgot something nagged him the rest of the day.

2. To bother or disturb persistently in any way.

   a nagging pain in his left knee

   a nagging north wind

Synonyms

• (continually remind or complain): ride
• (bother with thoughts or memories): haunt
• (persistently bother or annoy): worry

Derived terms

• nag screen
• nagware

Related terms

• gnaw

Translations

Noun

nag (plural nags)

1. Someone or something that nags.
2. A repeated complaint or reminder.
3. A persistent, bothersome thought or worry

Synonyms

• (person who nags): See Thesaurus:shrew

Derived terms

• nagless

Translations

Etymology 3

Noun

nag

1. Misspelling of knack.

References

• nag at OneLook Dictionary Search
• nag in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• AGN, ANG, GAN, GNA, GaN, Gan, NGA, gan

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch nacht (“night”), from Middle Dutch nacht, from Old Dutch naht, from Proto-Germanic *nahts, from Proto-Indo-European *nók?ts.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na?/

Noun

nag (plural nagte)

1. The period between sunset and sunrise, when the sky is dark; night.
2. (countable) darkness.

Colán

Noun

nag

1. moon

Danish

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a?
• Rhymes: -a??

Noun

nag n (singular definite naget, not used in plural form)

1. grudge

Derived terms

• bære nag

Verb

nag

1. imperative of nage

Gaikundi

Noun

nag

1. sago

Further reading

• Gaikundi-Ontena Organised Phonology Data (2011)

German

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a?k

Verb

nag

1. singular imperative of nagen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of nagen

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *nag?, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nog?ós (“naked”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nâ??/

Adjective

n?g (definite n?g?, Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. naked

Declension

Synonyms

• g?l, g?

Derived terms

• nág?st

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *nag?, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nog?ós (“naked”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ná?k/

Adjective

n?g (not comparable)

1. naked

Inflection

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Synonyms

• gòl (more formal)

Derived terms

• nágost

Further reading

• “nag”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Welsh

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *nek?e, a combination of Proto-Indo-European *ne (negative particle) and *-k?e (“and”); compare Latin neque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na?/

Particle

nag

1. not (in answers and tag questions)

Usage notes

Used before a vowel, but not when that vowel has resulted from the soft mutation of g. Thus na + gallan becomes na allan, not *nag allan.

Alternative forms

• na (used before a consonant)

White Hmong

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na???/

Noun

nag

1. rain

Derived terms

• los nag

Wolof

Noun

nag (definite form nag wi)

1. cow, cattle

Zhuang

Etymology

From Proto-Tai *na?k? (“otter”). Cognate with Thai ??? (nâak), Ahom ???????????? (nak).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /na?k?/
• Tone numbers: nag⁸
• Hyphenation: nag

Noun

nag (Sawndip forms ???? or ? or ???? or ???? or ?, old orthography nag)

1. otter

   Synonym: duznag