Etymology

exasperate

ex·as·per·ate
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Today it means: To tax the patience of; irk, frustrate, vex, provoke, annoy; to make angry. Full definition →

Latin exasperātus
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exasperate · verb, adjective1

  1. Latin · derived fromexasperō
  2. Latin · borrowed fromexasperātus
  3. English todayexasperate

First attested in 1534; borrowed from Latin exasperātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin exasperō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex (“out of; thoroughly”) + asperō (“to make rough”), from asper (“rough”). Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

exasperate · verb2

A pun on the usual sense of exasperate (to annoy) and aspirate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.