onerous
burdensome or difficult to bear
Roots
- -ous / -ious: full of or marked by a quality
- onus / oner: burden or load
Other words with the onus / oner root
Onerous keeps the onus inside it: a task so heavy it feels like a burden on the back.
The scholarship form was worth completing, but its documentation requirements were onerous.
Onerous does not mean merely hard. It means hard in a carrying sense: the task presses on time, money, patience, or duty until it feels like a load.