Meaning

adjective easily agitated

adjective causing or fraught with or showing anxiety

adjective of or relating to the nervous system

originFrom Middle English nervous (“composed of or incorporating nerves”), from Latin nervōsus (“nervous; sinewy; energetic, vigorous”), from nervus (“nerve; muscle; sinew, tendon; (figuratively) energy, power; nerve; force, strength, vigour”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥ (“sinew, tendon”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of, prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). The English word is…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0