Harrowing

How to spell harrowing

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce harrowing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does harrowing mean?

1. adjectiveAcutely distressing; deeply painful or disturbing to experience.

Harrowing in a sentence

• The survivors gave a harrowing account of the crash to investigators.

• The documentary was so harrowing that several viewers had to turn it off.

Where does harrowing come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The adjective grows out of the verb 'to harrow', whose oldest sense was thoroughly agricultural: a harrow is a heavy frame of spikes or discs dragged across a field to break up clods after ploughing. The noun harrow comes from Middle English 'harwe', of uncertain origin but probably related to a Germanic root tied to raking and tearing the earth, and possibly reinforced by Old Norse 'herfi'. From the brutal image of metal teeth ripping through the ground, English speakers extended 'harrow' to mean tearing at the feelings, lacerating the mind, or causing acute distress, a figurative use well established by the 1600s. The present participle 'harrowing' then settled in as an adjective for any experience that leaves you emotionally raked over. The spelling trap is purely the doubled r, a relic of keeping the short 'a' sound from the original farming word.

How the word is built

• harrow (to lacerate or distress, from the soil-breaking farm tool)
• -ing (adjective ending)