Rankle

WORD OF THE DAY

rankle / verb / RANK-ul

Definition
1: to cause anger, irritation, or deep bitterness
2: to feel anger and irritation
3: to cause irritation or bitterness in

Examples
Kacey felt the pivot and the influx of new listeners might rankle someone but didn’t care.
— Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 11 Sep. 2021

"Just one caveat: big swaths of this book are fiction, which may rankle readers who are eager to sink their teeth into a good nonfiction book."
— Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, 24 Sept. 2021

Did You Know
The history of today's word is something of a sore subject.
When rankle was first used in English, it meant "to fester," and that meaning is linked to the word's Old French ancestor—the noun raoncle or draoncle, which meant "festering sore."
Etymologists think this Old French word was derived from the Latin dracunculus, a diminutive form of draco, which means "serpent" and which is the source of the English word dragon.
The transition from serpents to sores apparently occurred because people thought certain ulcers or tumors looked like small serpents.