weary

See also: Weary and wearþ

English

Etymology

From Middle English wery, weri, from Old English wēriġ (“weary”), from Proto-West Germanic *wōrīg, *wōrag (“weary”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian wuurich (“weary, tired”), West Frisian wurch (“tired”), Dutch dialectal wurrig (“exhausted”), Old Saxon wōrig (“weary”), Old High German wōrag, wuarag (“drunken”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɪə̯ɹi/
Audio (General American): (file)
(Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈwiːɹi/
Hyphenation: wea‧ry
Rhymes: -ɪəɹi

Adjective

weary (comparative wearier, superlative weariest)

Having the strength exhausted by toil or exertion; tired; fatigued.
A weary traveller knocked at the door.
- c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:
  I care not for my spirits if my legs were not weary.
- 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Weariness:
  [I] am weary, thinking of your task.
- 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0091:
  There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
- 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:
  With the lift in the block still out of order, they climbed the flights and flights of steps. When Dad finally put the key in the front door, both were weary beyond words.
Having one's patience, relish, or contentment exhausted; tired; sick.
soldiers weary of marching, or of confinement; I grew weary of studying and left the library.
Expressive of fatigue.
He gave me a weary smile.
Causing weariness; tiresome.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 39:
  And now she was vppon the weary way,
- 1797–1798 (date written), [Samuel Taylor Coleridge], “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, in Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, London: […] J[ohn] & A[rthur] Arch, […], published 1798, →OCLC:
  There passed a weary time.
- 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 9, page 284:
  She had to dance all night without resting till break of day […] Old women supported her in the weary task, and they all danced together, arm in arm.

Synonyms

See also Thesaurus:fatigued

Derived terms

Translations

tired, fatigued

Arabic:
Egyptian Arabic: تعبان (taʕbān)
Azerbaijani: yorğun (az), yorulmuş
Bulgarian: изморен (bg) (izmoren)
Czech: unavený (cs), vyčerpaný (cs), znavený (cs)
Danish: træt (da), udkørt
Dutch: uitgeput (nl), vermoeid (nl)
Esperanto: laca (eo)
Finnish: väsynyt (fi), lopen uupunut
French: las (fr)
Galician: laso, canso
Georgian: მოქანცული (mokanculi)
German: müde (de)
Greek: κουρασμένος (el) (kourasménos)
Hungarian: fáradt (hu), megviselt (hu)
Icelandic: þreyttur (is)
Indonesian: please add this translation if you can
Irish: tuirseach, atuirseach, scítheach
Italian: annoiato (it), tediato (it)
Japanese: 疲れた (tsukareta)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ماندو (mandu)
Latin: fessus (la), dēfessus, lassus (la)
Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 疲倦的 (píjuàn-de)
Maori: whakakurutahi, kurukuru, waea
Norwegian:
Bokmål: trett, trøtt (no), utkjørt

Nynorsk: trøytt
Ottoman Turkish: یورغون (yorgun)
Persian: خسته (fa) (xaste)
Plautdietsch: meed, kjnirr
Polish: zmęczony (pl)
Portuguese: cansado (pt)
Romanian: obosit (ro), ostenit (ro)
Russian: уста́лый (ru) (ustályj), утомлённый (ru) (utomljónnyj)
Scottish Gaelic: claoidhte, airtnealach
Spanish: cansado (es), cansino (es)
Swedish: trött (sv)
Thai: เหนื่อย (th) (nʉ̀ai)

having one's patience exhausted; sick

Czech: znechucený, otrávený, mající něčeho dost, mající něčeho plné zuby, majicí něčeho po krk
Persian: خسته (fa) (xaste)
Polish: znużony (pl)

expressive of fatigue

Bulgarian: изморен (bg) (izmoren)
Czech: utahaný, udřený
Danish: træt (da)
Finnish: väsynyt (fi)
French: las (fr)
German: müde (de)
Italian: spossato (it)
Japanese: 疲れた (tsukareta)
Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 疲倦的 (píjuàn-de)
Persian: خسته (fa) (xaste)
Portuguese: cansado (pt)
Russian: уста́лый (ru) (ustályj)
Spanish: cansado (es), cansino (es)
Swedish: trött (sv)

tiresome

Bulgarian: отегчителен (bg) (otegčitelen)
Czech: otravný (cs), dotěrný
Dutch: uitputtend (nl), vermoeiend (nl)
Persian: خسته‌کننده (xaste-konande)
Polish: męczący (pl)
Romanian: obositor (ro)
Spanish: cansino (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Arabic: ^{(please verify)} مُرْهَق (murhaq)
Dutch: ^{(please verify)} vermoeid (nl)
Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} fáradt (hu)
Italian: ^{(please verify)} stanco (it)
Korean: ^{(please verify)} 지친 (jichin)

Verb

weary (third-person singular simple present wearies, present participle wearying, simple past and past participle wearied)

To make or to become weary.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:tire
- 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
  So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers,
- 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
  I would not cease / To wearie him with my assiduous cries.
- 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC:
  His name was Henderland; he spoke with the broad south-country tongue, which I was beginning to weary for the sound of; and besides common countryship, we soon found we had a more particular bond of interest.
- [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:
  Yet there was no time to be lost if I was ever to get out alive, and so I groped with my hands against the side of the grave until I made out the bottom edge of the slab, and then fell to grubbing beneath it with my fingers. But the earth, which the day before had looked light and loamy to the eye, was stiff and hard enough when one came to tackle it with naked hands, and in an hour's time I had done little more than further weary myself and bruise my fingers.

Derived terms

Translations

to make weary

Bulgarian: изморявам (bg) (izmorjavam)
Czech: otrávit (cs) pf, znechutit (cs) pf, unavit (cs) pf, unavovat (cs) impf
Danish: trætte (da)
Dutch: uitputten (nl), vermoeien (nl)
French: lasser (fr)
Gothic: 𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (usagljan)
Irish: traoith, tuirsigh
Italian: annoiare (it), annoiarsi (it), far scendere il latte alle ginocchia, tediare (it)
Latin: fatīgō
Maori: kuru, whakakuru
Old English: ǣþryttan, þrēotan
Polish: nużyć (pl) impf, znużyć (pl) pf
Spanish: cansar (es)
Swedish: trötta (sv), trötta ut (sv)

to become weary

Bulgarian: изморявам се (izmorjavam se)
Czech: znechutit se pf, mít něčeho dost, unavit se pf
Danish: blive træt
French: se lasser (fr)
Irish: tuirsigh
Italian: annoiarsi (it)
Spanish: cansar (es) (pronominal)
Swedish: tröttna (sv)

Anagrams

Erway, Wreay