irritare
to irritate
verb eer-ree-TAH-reh Rare
Origin: From Latin irritare (to provoke, to excite).
Also means
to annoy
Usage Note
Irritare covers both physical irritation (irritare la pelle = to irritate the skin) and emotional annoyance. The reflexive irritarsi means 'to get irritated/annoyed' and takes essere as auxiliary. The adjective irritante (irritating) works for both senses; irritato describes both inflamed skin and an annoyed person.
Examples
"Il fumo mi irrita gli occhi."
Natural Translation
Smoke irritates my eyes.
Literal Translation
The smoke to-me irritates the eyes.

Free starter pack
Building your Italian vocabulary?
Get the 100 most common Italian words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.
Related Words
Explore Italian by topic