irk

Etymology

Irk is inherited from Middle English irken (‘to tire, grow weary’), which traces back through Old Norse yrkja (‘to work’) and Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną (‘to work’) to Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- (‘to work’). It is cognate with Icelandic yrkja (‘to compose’), Swedish yrka (‘to urge, argue’) and Old English wyrċan (‘to work’), and is a doublet of work.