different between hardship vs discomfort

English

Etymology

From Middle English hardshipe, equivalent to hard +? -ship.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?h??d???p/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?h??d???p/
• Hyphenation: hard?ship

Noun

hardship (countable and uncountable, plural hardships)

1. Difficulty or trouble; hard times.

Antonyms

• softship

Translations

Verb

hardship (third-person singular simple present hardships, present participle hardshipping, simple past and past participle hardshipped)

1. (transitive) To treat (a person) badly; to subject to hardships.
   • 1969, Tract Series (issues 96-129, page 529)

     […] an adjustment of the income tax could easily produce the twenty millions without hardshipping any industrious person in the community […]

English

Etymology

From Middle English discomforten, from Anglo-Norman descomforter.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d?s?k?mf?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /d?s?k?mf?t/

Noun

discomfort (countable and uncountable, plural discomforts)

1. Mental or bodily distress.
2. Something that disturbs one’s comfort; an annoyance.

Translations

Verb

discomfort (third-person singular simple present discomforts, present participle discomforting, simple past and past participle discomforted)

1. To cause annoyance or distress to.
2. (obsolete) To discourage; to deject.

Usage notes

As a verb, the unrelated term discomfit is often used instead, largely interchangeably, though this is proscribed by some as an error, discomfit originally meaning “destroy”, not “distress”.

Derived terms

• discomforter

See also

• discomfit