Trouble Comes From a Word Meaning to Stir Up a Crowd
Trouble is difficulty or distress. Its Latin ancestor means a crowd in commotion, which also gives us disturb and turbulent.
Trouble is difficulty, worry or a source of it. The root is Latin *turba*, a crowd or uproar, which also produced *disturb*, *turbulent* and *turbine*. Trouble began as agitation and became the difficulty that causes it.
- Difficulty or distress. *Financial trouble.*
- Effort. *Do not go to any trouble.*
- A problem or fault. *Engine trouble.*
- To worry or inconvenience. *Sorry to trouble you.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | trouble | Serious trouble. |
| Plural | troubles | Financial troubles. |
| Verb | trouble | Trouble the doctor. |
| Adjective | troubled | A troubled history. |
| Adjective | troublesome | A troublesome cough. |
How it is used in a sentence
- He is in trouble at school.In trouble, no article.
- It is no trouble at all.A politeness.
- The car has gearbox trouble.A mechanical fault.
The stirring family
- Trouble — agitation, hence difficulty
- Disturb — throw into disorder
- Turbulent — violently agitated
- Turbine — a machine driven by whirling flow
- Perturb — unsettle, in feeling or in orbit
From Old French *trubler*, from a Latin form of *turbidare*, to disturb, from *turba*, a crowd or commotion.
Trouble or troubles?
Uncountable for difficulty in general; plural for a set of specific problems, as in financial troubles.
Is trouble related to turbine?
Yes. Both descend from Latin *turba*, an agitated crowd, through words meaning to whirl or disturb.