laborious

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English laborious, also laboriose,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman laborious and Middle French laborieux,^[3][4] and directly borrowed from Latin labōriōsus (“toilsome, wearisome; industrious”).^[3][2][5][6] The Old French form laborios is recorded from the 12th century,^[6] about 1200 in the OED's dating,^[3] and the Anglo-Norman from the third quarter of the 12th century.^[7] The Latin adjective is formed from labor (“toil, exertion”) and -iōsus,^[3][8] the noun being a word of uncertain origin.^[6] The OED compares Spanish laborioso and Italian laborioso.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Given to hard work, industrious: before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis, "vertuous Were and therto laborious".^[3][2] Etymonline likewise dates this sense to the late 14th century,^[6] and Benson's concordance lists one use in Gower.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The Latin and French words already covered both the worker and the work,^[3][6] so English soon had both as well: "involving hard work, arduous" is recorded about 1395, in Chaucer's Friar's Tale,^[3] and Etymonline's early 15th-century "costing much labor, burdensome" is the same sense.^[6] The "produced by hard work" sense is attested by the mid-15th century.^[6][3] The disparaging use of speech or writing that shows the effort dates from 1560, in Daus's translation of Sleidane, whose post-classical Latin original of 1555 already used labōriōsus this way.^[3] In the 16th century the adjective was sometimes laborous, as in Wyatt and Elyot.^[6] Johnson (1755) gave "diligent in work" first and "requiring labour; tiresome" second,^[10] but the personal sense is now the rarer one.^[11]

Timeline

• before 1393 – hard-working, industrious, in Gower.^[3][2]
• c. 1395 – involving hard work, arduous, in Chaucer.^[3]
• before 1475 – produced by hard work, in Bokenham's Mappula Angliae, composed before 1447.^[3]
• 1534 – toiling, especially at unskilled manual labour.^[3]
• 1560 – of speech or writing, showing signs of effort; long-winded.^[3]
• 1615 – of childbirth, difficult and prolonged.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Needing much time or effort; arduous, tiring: Sorting the archive by hand was a laborious job.^[12][8][3]
2. Of style or writing, showing signs of effort; not fluent; labored: a laborious, overwritten memoir.^[12][3][8]
3. (now rare) Given to hard work; industrious, diligent.^{[12][8][11][3]}
4. (rare) Of childbirth, difficult and prolonged.^[3][11]

Word family

• laboriously
• laboriousness
• unlaborious

Related words

• labor
• laboratory
• elaborate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins