Other forms: hassles
A hassle is an annoying difficulty that takes effort to deal with. What a hassle, too much hassle, hassle-free.
It names small friction rather than real trouble, and hassle-free is one of the commonest promises in advertising. As a verb it means to pester somebody. It is American and its origin is unknown, perhaps from a dialect word meaning to pant.
1nounhassleAn annoying difficulty that takes effort to deal with.
“Getting a visa was such a hassle that we almost cancelled the trip.”
hassle is a difficulty.
American, of unknown origin, possibly from a southern dialect word meaning to pant or breathe noisily.
Middle English
hasten
English
haste
English, today
hassle
unknown. Probably from US Southern dialectal hassle (“to pant, breathe noisily”), possibly from haste + le. haste Blend of Middle English hasten, (compare Dutch haasten, German hasten, Danish haste, Swedish hasta (“to hasten, rush”)) and Middle English hast (“haste”), from Old French haste (whence French - hâte), from Old Frankish haifsti (“violence”), from Proto-Germanic haifstiz (“struggle, conflict”), from Proto-Indo-European ḱeyp- (“to ridicule, mock, anger”). Akin to Old Frisian hāst, hāste (“haste”), Old English hǣst (“violence”), Old English hǣste (“violent, impetuous, vehement”), Old Norse heift//heipt (“feud”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍃𐍄𐍃 (“rivalry”). Cognate with German heftig (“vehement”) and Danish heftig (“vehement”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA