different between vex vs vext

English

Etymology

From Middle English vexen, from Old French vexer, from Latin v?x?re (“disturb, agitate, annoy”). Displaced native Middle English grillen (“to vex, annoy”) from Old English grillan. Doublet of quake.

Pronunciation

• enPR: v?ks, IPA^(key): /v?ks/
• Rhymes: -?ks

Verb

vex (third-person singular simple present vexes, present participle vexing, simple past and past participle vexed or (archaic) vext)

1. (transitive, now rare) To trouble aggressively, to harass.
2. (transitive) To annoy, irritate.

3. (transitive) To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.
4. (transitive, rare) To twist, to weave.

   • some English wool, vexed in a Belgian loom

5. (intransitive, obsolete) To be irritated; to fret.
   • 1613, George Chapman, The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois

     Wake when thou would'st wake, fear nought, vex for nought

6. (transitive) To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:vex.

Synonyms

• (to annoy): agitate, irk, irritate
• (to cause mental suffering): afflict, grame, torment

Derived terms

Related terms

• quake
• vexatious

Translations

Noun

vex (plural vexes)

1. (Scotland, obsolete) A trouble.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “vex”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

vex

1. Alternative form of wax (“wax”)

Etymology 2

Verb

vex

1. Alternative form of vexen

English

Verb

vext

1. (archaic) simple past tense and past participle of vex
   • 1859, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King, "The Coming of Arthur"

     What happiness to reign a lonely king,
     Vext — O ye stars that shudder over me,
     O earth that soundest hollow under me,
     Vext with waste dreams?

   • 1859, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King, "The Coming of Arthur"

     And that same night, the night of the new year,
     By reason of the bitterness and grief
     That vext his mother, all before his time
     Was Arthur born [...]

   • 1859, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King, "Holy Grail"

     [...] and thence
     Taking my war-horse from the holy man,
     Glad that no phantom vext me more, return'd
     To whence I came, the gate of Arthur's wars.