悩む

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū completed in 759 CE.^[1][2]

May be derived from 萎える (naeru, “to weaken; to wither; to bend; to become limp; to become listless”),^[1] from the classical form 萎ゆ (nayu) in the irrealis verb stem naya- + suppositional suffix む (mu).

• (Tokyo) なやむ (Nakadaka – )^[3]
• IPA^(key):

悩(なや)む • (nayamu) transitive or intransitive godan (stem 悩(なや)み (nayami), past 悩(なや)んだ (nayanda))

1. (intransitive) (in reaction to something not going as expected) to worry, to be bothered, to be emotionally distressed, to dwell on, to be vexed

   Synonyms: 心配する (shinpai suru, “to worry”), 思い煩う (omoiwazurau, “to be anxious about, to dwell on”), 困る (komaru, “to be stuck, to be in difficulty”), 当惑する (tōwaku suru, “to be perplexed”)

2. (intransitive) to suffer physically, to suffer physical distress; to fall ill, to get sick

   Synonyms: 苦しむ (kurushimu, “to suffer”), 悶える (modaeru, “to be anguished”), 病む (yamu, “to get sick”)

3. (intransitive, auxiliary) (attaches to the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of another verb) to get stuck, to go sideways, to not go well

   行(ゆき)悩(なや)む

   yukinayamu

   to be deadlocked, to be stuck, to make no progress

4. (transitive, archaic) to make do, to manage to do

   Synonym: 工面する (kumen suru)

5. (transitive, archaic) to deal with a difficulty, to manage a challenge, to handle something

   Synonyms: あしらう (ashirau), 取り扱う (toriatsukau)

In modern Japanese, this verb is intransitive. In Classical Japanese, it appears in some texts as transitive.

悩(なや)む • (nayamu) transitive ^†nidan

1. to vex, to cause distress: see modern 悩(なや)める (nayameru)

   Synonym: 悩ます (nayamasu)

• 悩(なや)み (nayami)
• 悩(なや)ます (nayamasu)
• 悩(なや)ましい (nayamashii)
• 悩(なや)める (nayameru)

• 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.