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PlainSpell

vex

/vɛks/verb

vex is spelled V-E-X: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,912th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, vex means “To annoy, irritate” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in vex?

Letters3: V-E-X
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 1 million words; the 34,912th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is vex?

Vex appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,912th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce vex?

  • /vɛks/

Vex has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-vex.ogg, En-au-vex.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of vex

  • vexes present, singular, he/she/it
  • vexing participle, present
  • vexed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does vex mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To annoy, irritate.

    Billy's professor was vexed by his continued failure to improve his grades.

  2. 2

    To cause (mental) suffering to; to distress.

  3. 3

    archaicTo trouble aggressively, to harass.

  4. 4

    rareTo twist, to weave.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo be irritated; to fret.

  6. 6

    To toss back and forth; to agitate; to disquiet.

noun

  1. 1

    ScotlandobsoleteA trouble.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Vex in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchennuyer, énerver (to annoy), vexer informal, tourmenter (to distress; to cause mental suffering), vexer (rare, archaic: to trouble aggressively)
Germanärgern, verärgern, reizen, irritieren (to annoy), beunruhigen, quälen (to distress; to cause mental suffering)
Portuguesevexar, irritar, aborrecer (to annoy), tormentar (to distress; to cause mental suffering)
Spanishmolestar, irritar, vejar (to annoy), disgustar, afligir, atormentar (to distress; to cause mental suffering)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does vex come from?

From Middle English vexen, from Old French vexer, from Latin vexāre (“disturb, agitate, annoy”). Displaced native Old English dreċċan and gremman.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after vex