pain in the ass
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Dysphemistically modelled after pain in the neck. First attested in the early to mid-20th century.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
[edit]pain in the ass (countable and uncountable, plural pains in the ass)
- (idiomatic, slang, vulgar, Canada, US) Something or someone that causes discomfort, frustration, or annoyance.
- Alternative forms: pain in one's ass, pain in the arse (UK, Commonwealth), pain in one's arse (UK, Commonwealth), PITA (acronym)
- Synonyms: pain in the back, pain in the backside, pain in the bum, pain in the butt, pain in the keister, pain in the neck, pain in the rear, pain in the dick; assache; pill
- 2019 January 30, Tim Denning, “How To Use A Pain-In-The-Ass Job To Your Advantage And Come Out A Winner”, in Medium[1], archived from the original on 10 September 2020, retrieved 7 February 2025:
- Strangely enough, the days I spent at this pain-in-the-ass job were some of my most memorable and valuable.
- 2025 June 3, Mark O’Connell, “‘The Mozart of the attention economy’: why MrBeast is the world’s biggest YouTube star”, in The Guardian[2], archived from the original on 7 June 2025:
- His one obligation is that, every day, he must gather $10,000 worth of items from the store – stuff he doesn’t need: electronics, nappies, pet food and so forth – and exchange them for the cash. This is both an acute pain in the ass, and the one thing that prevents him from going insane with boredom. )
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see pain, in, the, ass.
Translations
[edit]something that causes discomfort
See also
[edit]- royal pain
- pygalgia (medical registers, literal, rare, dated)
- proctalgia (medical registers, literal, anorectal pain)
- coccydynia (medical registers, literal, coccygeal pain)