workbook

Etymology

It is formed from English work + book.^[2][3][4] Work is from Old English weorc,^[5][6] and book from Old English bōc (“book, written document”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A book recording jobs to be done, duties or hours worked: 1766, in James Parker's account with Franklin and Hall.^[2][5] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1815–20,^[4] and Etymonline to 1910, as a book of daily duties in a business.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From 1873 a workbook was also a book of information on a subject with exercises for students.^[2] Etymonline finds it by 1932 in American education as a book of problems to be worked out.^[3] In computing it has meant, since 1991, a single spreadsheet file holding several worksheets.^[2]

Timeline

• 1766 – a book recording jobs to be done or work done.^[2][5]
• 1873 – a book of information and exercises for students.^[2]
• 1991 – a spreadsheet file containing several worksheets.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A student's exercise book of problems or questions, often with spaces for the answers: Each pupil got a new maths workbook.^[7][5][2]
2. A book in which work done or planned is recorded.^[7][5][2]
3. A book of instructions or rules for a process or a way of working.^[7][5]
4. A book outlining a suggested course of study.^[5]
5. (computing) A spreadsheet file made up of several worksheets.^[2]

Related words

• worksheet
• work
• book

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins