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workload

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Etymology and origin of the English word workload

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1899 Edinburgh Medical Journal
Ultimate origins
English workOld English lad
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English load
English workload
From the same root
English download ← load
English overload ← load

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈwɜːkləʊd/[1]
  • US: /ˈwɝːkloʊd/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English work + load, joining the nouns work and load.[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The amount of work to be done by a person or group, especially at work: 1899, in the Edinburgh Medical Journal.[2] Merriam-Webster also dates this sense to 1899,[5] while Etymonline dates the word, also written work-load, from 1939,[3] Dictionary.com from 1940–45[4] and the Collegiate from 1943.[6]

Semantic evolution

Within a few years of its first record the word was applied to machines: from 1903, in the Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, it meant the work done or handled by a machine.[2] Modern dictionaries define it by a time span, the work expected of someone or performed by a machine in a given period.[5][7][8]

Timeline

  • 1899 – the amount of work to be done by a person.[2][5]
  • 1903 – the work done or handled by a machine.[2]
  • 1939 – first date given by Etymonline, also spelled work-load.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The amount of work that a person or group is expected to do, or is given, especially within a set period: Two new hires should ease the nurses' workload.[5][8][7]
  2. The amount of work a machine or system does or can do within a set period.[5][7][2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Workload.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/workload. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·