Irksome means annoying in a tiresome and persistent way. An irksome delay, irksome rules, find it irksome.
It is a mild and rather formal complaint, and the persistence is what it names — an irksome task is not hard but keeps having to be done. Note irk, the verb, which is now rarer than the adjective made from it; and the -some ending, which makes adjectives as in tiresome and burdensome.
1adjectiveirksomeAnnoying in a tiresome and persistent way.
“Filling in the same form every month is irksome but necessary.”
synonyms: tiresome, vexing
irksome is a quality of annoyance.
Also accepted in games: pesky
Middle English irkesome is irk plus -some. The origin of irk itself is uncertain.
Proto-Indo-European
*werǵ-
Old English
weorcsum — painful, hurtful
Middle English
irkesome
English, today
irksome
From Middle English irkesome, irksum, equivalent to irk + -some, or perhaps continuing (in altered form) from Old English weorcsum (“painful, hurtful”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA