Skip to content

cumbersome

cum·ber·some

Today it means: Burdensome or hindering, as if a weight or drag; vexatious. Full definition →

Middle English cumbyrsum

Ask AI about its historyChatGPT Claude Perplexity Google AI Grok

The story

Middle English · inherited fromcumbyrsum
English todaycumbersome

From Middle English cumbyrsum, cummyrsum; equivalent to cumber (“hindrance”) + -some. Compare encumber and incumbent.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.