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Course: 6th grade reading and vocabulary (improved and expanded) > Unit 3
Lesson 5: Identifying point of viewAnxious | Vocabulary
Let’s explore the meaning and origin of the word “anxious”. Created by David Rheinstrom.
Want to join the conversation?
- Anxiety basically means nervous or worried. For ex. If a bear would be chasing you, you would be very worried or anxious and scared. Anxious is more exphasized if u get what i mean.(7 votes)
- David should have put hard rock music on and then be like “oh wait that’s not the right music!” And THEN he puts on calming music 😂(1 vote)
- Do some people need actual help if their anxiety gets really bad?(0 votes)
Video transcript
- [David] Oh boy. Oh geez, wordsmiths. I'm not feeling so hot about
this word, I tell you what. The word is "anxious". Anxious. Or if you prefer anx-ious. It's an adjective that means very worried. You might see in its noun form, anxiety, which is the state of being very worried. If you trace this word
back to its origins, you get the Latin word
"anguere" which means to choke or to squeeze. When I feel anxious,
sometimes my throat gets tight and my heart hammers in my
chests and listen, wordsmith. It's a bad time. And that o-u-s part, ous, is
an adjective forming suffix. It means full of, right? So being anxious is being full of that choking, squeezed feeling. So a real fun one this time, huh? Let's all take a deep breath. Think of a calming centered place and come up with some related
words, some similar words that sound like anguere or
o-u-s, that end in o-u-s. I'll put on some calming
music. 10 seconds, here we go. (calming music) Here are three that I came
up with. We've got anguish. It shares the same root as anxious. That anguere word and it means misery, torment,
very deep unhappiness as if you were being choked or squeezed. Agony. Ugh. Okay, next word. Anger. This is an interesting one, 'cause anger looks a lot like anguere, but actually traces back to old
Viking languages, not Latin. But it comes from an
even older shared root, a common ancestor of Latin
and the Viking languages. So it has the same meaning
of squeezed or painful, and from there we get anger,
hostility, feeling constricted and squeezed, and finally furious. Using that o-u-s ending,
it means full of fury, full of anger. I promise I'm having a very
normal day, wordsmiths. There's just something
about this derivation that puts me on edge. Okay, let's use anxious
in a sentence or two. At first, Bettina felt anxious about hiking Needleteeth Gorge, but felt reassured when she remembered that her Aunt Isabella was
a trained wilderness guide. Needleteeth Gorge does
not sound like a fun or safe place to go for a hike. To me, Bettina's worries
are understandable. Let's try another one using the noun form of the word anxiety. "Based on what you told me, it seems like potatoes are
the cause of your anxiety," Dr. Gomez said. Sometimes it helps to talk to someone about your
feelings, potato related or no. Deep breaths, wordsmiths. You can do this, you
can conquer your anxiety and you can learn anything. David out.