What is the difference between "teda" and "enua"?

Question

Teda and enua both mean boring, don't they? What is the difference between the two?

And hmm... lernu also lists enuiga. What is the meaning of this one?

Answer 1

Beginner warning! Anyone please fix me if I am wrong.

Based on examples from the Vortaro, I feel a distinction between them because they would translate to different words in my language (at least I think they would), but I find hard to express that using single word equivalents in English. I think teda is more towards being lengthy – boring or exhaustive because of duration and lack of proportionate amount of content – while enua has rather to do with emptiness and lack of interest or activity whatsoever. So a talk one finds teda, for example, could have been good if it was cut shorter. But one that's enua is a plain waste of time and was at no point interesting to the listener.

According to the same logic, waiting for someone's arrival for 3 hours would be teda. Being closed in an empty room with nothing to do for the same time would be enua.

I think the difference between enua and enuiga is (in this context) null. According to Vortaro again, the former includes the latter, but is more general in the sense that it could also describe other adjectival relations to boredom than just assigning the quality to a noun. Like in this sentence,

mi iom amas en enua tempo tralegi ion amuzan,

in which I would understand "in a time of boredom": it's no longer boring when I fill it with the activity.

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Update: Found in the ReVo:

tedi (tr): kaŭzi lacenon kaj malagrablecon pro trodaŭro, troripetiĝo aŭ troabundo

enui (ntr): malplezuri pro senintereso aŭ neokupiteco

(emphasis mine). And an example where enua ⊃ enuiga:

la princo oscedis kaj ĉirkaŭrigardis per enuaj okuloj (montrantaj enuon)

I think that supports all my above claims.

Answer 2

According to the reta vortaro, Teda means something that makes you tired because of repetition. It is probably closer to the english word tedious.

Kiu kaŭzas tedon, lacan incitiĝon pro daŭro, ripetiĝo, unutoneco: teda kiel kulo.

Enua means boring. Enuiga means something that forces boredom onto something else (probably a human or animal).

• Enu = this root means boardom.
• ig = to use force.
• a = adjective