workday

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English werkday,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English weorcdæg,^[2][5][6] a compound of weorc (“work”) and dæg (“day”).^[5][7] The OED compares Middle Dutch wercdach (modern werkdag), Old High German werctac (modern Werktag) and Old Norse verkdagr.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A day of the week on which people work, as opposed to a holy day: Old English, in a version of the Rule of St Benet.^[7] Bosworth–Toller defines the Old English word as any day of the week except Sunday that is not a festival, glossing Latin feria,^[5] whereas Etymonline thinks it apparently meant a day when work was suspended, because it glosses feria.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its central sense, a day for work rather than rest or religious observance, since Old English;^[7][6] Etymonline dates it to the late 12th century,^[6] and in early Middle English Orm and the Ancrene Riwle contrast the workdays of the week with holy days.^[5] Used as an adjective from 1516, it meant belonging to a workday, and hence ordinary and humdrum,^[7][6] a sense shared with workaday.^[7][3] Coke used it before 1634 for a day's unpaid labour owed as a service, like a corvée, a sense now historical.^[7] From 1841 a workday could also be the part of the day given to work,^[7] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds the number of hours set by law, custom or agreement for a day's pay.^[3] Collins notes that workday is the usual American term for what British English calls a working day.^[8]

Timeline

• Old English – a day of work, as opposed to a holy day.^[7][5]
• 1516 – adjective, of a workday; ordinary.^[7][3]
• before 1634 – a day's unpaid labour owed as a service.^[7]
• 1841 – the part of the day during which one works.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A day on which work is done, as distinguished from a weekend or a holiday: Thursday is her longest workday.^[3][8][7]
2. The part of the day during which a person works: an eight-hour workday.^[3][7]
3. The number of hours, fixed by law, custom or agreement, that a worker must work to earn a day's pay.^[3]
4. (historical) A day's unpaid labour owed as a service, or a payment made instead of it.^[7]

Adjective

1. Of or relating to a workday; ordinary, workaday.^[3][8][7]

Related words

• workaday
• working day

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins