About this episode
This episode discusses the word 'onerous', its meaning, usage, and etymology.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 26, 2026 is: onerous • \AH-nuh-rus\ • adjective Onerous means "involving, imposing, or constituting a burden." It typically describes something that is difficult and unpleasant to do or deal with. // They were assigned the onerous task of post-show cleanup. // The government imposed onerous taxes on imports. See the entry > Examples: "Morton professed joy at relinquishing politics and announced his intention to retire to his country estate, where he would henceforth be occupied with nothing more onerous than straightening out the pathways in his beautiful gardens." — Gareth Russell, The Six Loves of James I , 2025 Did you know? The story behind onerous is at once straightforward and, dare we say, poetic. But perhaps that's putting the cart before the horse. Onerous rolled into the English language during the 14th century, via Middle French, from the Latin adjective onerosus , "burdensome." That word, in turn, was hitched to the noun onus , meaning "burden" (source too of our word onus , which usually refers to a burden or responsibility). Onus shares an ancient root with the Sanskrit word anas , meaning "cart." So…
People in this episode
Host: Merriam-Webster
Topics covered
- language
- vocabulary
- adjectives
- burden
- etymology
Keywords
- onerous
- burden
- adjective
- etymology
- language
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: The Six Loves of James I
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