Anxious | Vocabulary

0:00- [David] Oh boy. Oh geez, wordsmiths. I'm not feeling so hot about this word, I tell you what. The word is "anxious". Anxious. Or if you prefer anx-ious. It's an adjective that means very worried. You might see in its noun form, anxiety, which is the state of being very worried.

0:24If you trace this word back to its origins, you get the Latin word "anguere" which means to choke or to squeeze. When I feel anxious, sometimes my throat gets tight and my heart hammers in my chests and listen, wordsmith. It's a bad time. And that o-u-s part, ous, is an adjective forming suffix.

0:43It means full of, right? So being anxious is being full of that choking, squeezed feeling. So a real fun one this time, huh? Let's all take a deep breath. Think of a calming centered place and come up with some related words, some similar words that sound like anguere or o-u-s, that end in o-u-s.

1:05I'll put on some calming music. 10 seconds, here we go. (calming music) Here are three that I came up with. We've got anguish. It shares the same root as anxious. That anguere word and it means misery, torment, very deep unhappiness as if you were being choked or squeezed.

1:37Agony. Ugh. Okay, next word. Anger. This is an interesting one, 'cause anger looks a lot like anguere, but actually traces back to old Viking languages, not Latin. But it comes from an even older shared root, a common ancestor of Latin and the Viking languages.

1:55So it has the same meaning of squeezed or painful, and from there we get anger, hostility, feeling constricted and squeezed, and finally furious. Using that o-u-s ending, it means full of fury, full of anger. I promise I'm having a very normal day, wordsmiths.

2:17There's just something about this derivation that puts me on edge. Okay, let's use anxious in a sentence or two. At first, Bettina felt anxious about hiking Needleteeth Gorge, but felt reassured when she remembered that her Aunt Isabella was a trained wilderness guide.

2:34Needleteeth Gorge does not sound like a fun or safe place to go for a hike. To me, Bettina's worries are understandable. Let's try another one using the noun form of the word anxiety. "Based on what you told me, it seems like potatoes are the cause of your anxiety," Dr. Gomez said.

2:54Sometimes it helps to talk to someone about your feelings, potato related or no. Deep breaths, wordsmiths. You can do this, you can conquer your anxiety and you can learn anything. David out.