vexer

[alan gould]

the only time i heard "vex" used in english, it was by a Jamaican to mean "anger" -- “I’m vexed.”  the dictionary has it as “to annoy” or “to bother.”  the french “vexer” is defined as “to anger” in one dictionary, but “to upset” in another.  is “vexer” used to mean “to anger?”       

merci

 

[Vedas]

In French it means to upset/worry someone, you can upset people to the point of  hurting them and they can be angered .

Most of the time when we say that "il a été vexé" it often implies that the person withdraws and remains silent or walks away but the person can fly into a temper too depending on how much their self esteem has been hurt by a comment and how they react to it.

So vexer has much to do with hurting the ego.

Une remarque vexante: a hurtful comment

You can tease someone and  tell him in the end: ne soit pas vexer (come on don't take offence/ I was just teasing)