You probably know the definition of tedious: “tiresome because of length or dullness : boring.”
But the etymology of tedious is actually a bit more interesting and made me snort-laugh when I saw it. Tedious and tedium are from the Late Latin taediosus and taedium (respectively–obviously the same root there), which didn’t just mean boring and long. They meant “wearisome, irksome.” Not just boring, annoying.
Right?? 😉 This is why I get annoyed with those long, detailed, boring tasks. I do indeed find them irksome, LOL.
Tedious has been in English since the 1400s, and tedium since the 1660s. Interestingly, tedium at that time not only carried the meaning of “boring and irksome,” but even more, “disgust.” (I personally wouldn’t go that far, ha ha.)
Are you a details person who thrives in those long tasks others may find boring or tedious?
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.