office

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈɒf.ɪs/, US /ˈɑː.fɪs/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English office (earlier offiz),^[2] borrowed from Old French office (Anglo-French ofice)^[3][2] and directly borrowed from Latin officium (“service, duty, function”).^[3][2][4] Officium is contracted from *opificium (“work-doing”),^[3][5][6] from opus (“work”) and the stem of facere (“to do”).^[7][4][8] In Medieval Latin it also meant a church service.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An official post or position with duties attached: about 1250, in The Story of Genesis and Exodus.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

A duty or function, or a service done for someone, is recorded probably before 1300,^[2][9] and the phrase good offices keeps the sense “kindness, service”.^[9] About 1300 office also meant a church service or the set form of one,^[3] and it was used of church positions from the late 14th century.^[3] “A place where business is done” appears in the late 14th century, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (about 1395).^[2][3] A government department is an office from the mid-15th century,^[3] and since 1727 the word has also been a euphemism for a privy.^[3] Office-holder is from 1818 and office hours from 1841.^[3] Officer dates from the 14th century,^[8] and officious first meant “eager to serve”, taking its negative sense at the end of the 16th century.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – an official post.^[2]
• before 1300 – a duty or function.^[2]
• c. 1300 – a church service.^[3]
• 14th century – officer.^[8]
• c. 1395 – a place of business (Chaucer).^[2]
• mid-15th century – a government department.^[3]
• 1727 – a privy.^[3]
• 1841 – office hours.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A room or building where business, clerical or professional work is done.
2. The staff who work in such a place.
3. A position of authority or trust, especially in government.
4. A duty or function: the office of host.
5. A department or major division of government.
6. (usually plural) A service done for someone: through the good offices of a friend.
7. (Christianity) A set form of liturgical worship.

Word family

• officeless

Related words

• officeholder
• officer
• official
• officiate
• officious
• opus
• operate
• fact

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press