burdensome
Meaning
causing or feeling difficulty or worry; onerous.
Structure
Usage
the administrative paperwork became a burdensome task for the small team.
she found the responsibility of caring for the estate increasingly burdensome.
the government aims to reduce burdensome regulations on new businesses.
Etymology
the word 'burdensome' is a native english formation, combining the old english noun 'byrthen' (a load or weight) with the productive adjectival suffix '-sum'. the core concept of 'burden' has remained remarkably consistent from its germanic roots, originally denoting a physical load carried. the suffix '-some' attaches to nouns to create adjectives indicating a propensity or full of a certain quality. thus, the literal construction 'characterized by a load' logically evolved into the modern abstract sense of 'causing difficulty or worry', seamlessly transferring the concept of physical weight to metaphorical or psychological heaviness.
Analysis
burden (from old english byrthen, meaning a load, weight, duty); some (from old english -sum, an adjective-forming suffix meaning 'characterized by' or 'tending to').