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Added 3 October 2026

burden

/ˈbɜːdn̩/ noun

Categories: Mind & IdeasThingsEveryday Words

In Latin: onus, sarcina Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about burden at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A heavy load.
  2. A responsibility, onus.
  3. A cause of worry; that which is grievous, wearisome, or oppressive.

verb

  1. To encumber with a burden.
    to burden a nation with taxes
  2. To impose, as a load or burden; to lay or place as a burden (something heavy or objectionable).

noun

  1. A phrase or theme that recurs at the end of each verse in a folk song or ballad.
  2. The drone of a bagpipe.
  3. A theme, a core idea.
    the burden of the argument

Origin

Inherited from Middle English birthene, birthen, birden, from Old English byrden, byrþen, from Proto-West Germanic *burþini, from *burþī, from Proto-Germanic *burþį̄, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, bear”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Related Words: loadincumbranceencumbranceonusloadingeffectessencegistchargesaddleburthen

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