work

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English werk, later work,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English weorc, also worc and werc, "a deed, something done, action, business".^[2][3][5] It goes back to Proto-Germanic *werką (“work”),^[2][6] whose cognates include Old Frisian werk, Old Saxon werk, Dutch werk, Old High German werc, German Werk and Old Norse verk.^[7][3][5] Outside Germanic it is related to Ancient Greek ἔργον (érgon, “work”), the source of energy, and, through Greek, to organ,^[3][8][9] and to Avestan varəza- (“activity”),^[3][10] all from Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- (“to do, work”).^[2][8][11] The verb is inherited from Middle English werken, later worken and wurchen,^[3][9][4] which merged two Old English verbs: inherited from Old English wyrcan (past tense worhte, past participle geworht), "to make, do, perform, produce by labour",^[2][3][5] and Mercian wircan, "to operate, function".^[2][3][12] The first is from Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną, with a zero grade of the root, and is cognate with Old High German wurchen, Old Norse yrkja and Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (waurkjan);^[3][7][13] the second was formed later from the Germanic noun, like Old High German wirken and German wirken.^[3][7] The modern verb took its -k from the noun.^[12][4] The old past tense and participle survive in wrought, and the same root gave wright.^[8][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something done, a deed or action; and as a verb, to do, make or perform: both are recorded about 725, in Beowulf.^[3] The OED's first quotations for the noun in the sense "labour undertaken to achieve a result" come from the early Old English Vespasian Psalter.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old English the noun covered a deed, a product of labour, physical toil, a craft or trade, and a fortification.^[2][15] Etymonline dates the sense "physical effort, exertion" and the senses of scholarly and artistic labour and their products to about 1200, needlework to the late 13th century, and labour as a measurable commodity to about 1300.^[2] In Christian theology works, good deeds considered in relation to salvation, are recorded from Old English, often contrasted with faith.^[7] The verb, which in Old English already meant to labour, to ply a trade, and to knead or shape a material,^[2] was used from the late 14th century for having the expected effect,^[2] a sense the OED records from 1599;^[7] of a machine, to function, it appears about 1610.^[7] Liquor was said to work, to ferment, from 1570.^[7] Among the modern additions are work of art (1728 for something made by people, 1774 for an artistic creation),^[2] the physical sense of energy transferred by a force,^[16] work meaning one's employer or workplace (1966),^[7] and slang work over, to beat up (1927).^[2] Johnson (1755) put "toil; labour; employment" first.^[17] In northern English and Scots dialect the word took the form wark.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 725 – the noun weorc, a deed, and the verb wyrcan, to do or make, in Beowulf.^[3]
• before 1200 – Middle English noun work; the verb werken is recorded before 1250.^[3]
• c. 1200 – physical effort, exertion; scholarly or artistic labour.^[2]
• c. 1300 – labour as a measurable commodity;^[2] many hands make light work.^[2]
• late 14th century – verb, to have the expected effect.^[2] The OED's first example of this sense is from 1599.^[7]
• c. 1400 – verb, to calculate, in Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe.^[7]
• 1570 – of liquor, to ferment.^[7]
• 1590s – out of work, unemployed.^[2]
• c. 1610 – of a machine, to function or run.^[7]
• 1774 – work of art, an artistic creation.^[2]
• 1927 – work over, to beat up.^[2]
• 1966 – work, one's employer or place of employment.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Physical or mental effort directed at making or achieving something: Painting the fence took a whole weekend of work.^[16][11][4]
2. Paid employment; a job, trade or profession: She found work at a bakery.^[16][11]
3. A task or duty that has to be done: There is plenty of work left for tomorrow.^[16][11][7]
4. One's place of employment: He left his umbrella at work.^[11][7][16]
5. Something produced by effort, especially a piece of art, literature or music: a work by an unknown sculptor.^[16][11]
6. (physics) The transfer of energy measured as the product of a force and the distance through which it moves its point of application.^[16]
7. A structure built as part of a fortification.^[16][2]
8. works (theology): good deeds considered in relation to salvation, often contrasted with faith.^[7]
9. (archaic) An act or deed.^[7][11]

Verb

1. To exert oneself physically or mentally; to labour, especially in a job or trade: He works at the post office.^[2][7]
2. Of a machine or device, to function or run: The lift isn't working.^[7][4]
3. To have the intended effect; to succeed: The new plan worked.^[7][2]
4. To shape or knead a material: to work the clay until it is smooth.^[4][2]
5. To bring about or cause: to work wonders.^[4][7]
6. To operate or manage: to work a pump; to cultivate or exploit: to work a mine.^[4]
7. To decorate with needlework; to embroider.^[4][2]
8. Of liquor, to ferment.^[7]

Word family

• outwork
• rework
• worker
• working
• work off
• work out
• work over
• work up

Related words

• wrought
• wright
• energy
• organ
• orgy
• erg
• ergonomic
• surgeon
• bulwark

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
14. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
18. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)