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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

English

work

/wɜː(ɹ)k/
Labour, occupation, job.

    Etymology graph

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    • borrowed
    • derived
    • parts
    • meaning component
    • sound component
    • related
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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English work, werk, from Old English weorc, from Proto-West Germanic *werk, from Proto-Germanic *werką (“work”), from Proto-Indo-European *wérǵom (“work”), from Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- (“to make”).

    Cognates

    Cognate with Scots wark (“work”), North Frisian werk (“work”), Saterland Frisian Wierk (“work”), West Frisian wurk (“work”), Dutch werk (“work”), German Werk (“work”), German Low German Wark (“work”), Luxembourgish Wierk (“work”), Danish værk (“work”), Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish verk (“work”); also Breton ober (“to do, make”), Cornish gul, gwul (“to do, make”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic fearg (“anger”), Manx ferg (“anger”), Pictish ᚒᚏᚏᚐᚉᚈ (urract, “he made”), Welsh gwneud, neud (“to do, make”), Greek έργο (érgo, “work”), Albanian argëtim (“entertainment; fun, pleasure”), argëtoj (“to amuse, entertain”), Lithuanian váržas (“fish snaring net”), Macedonian врша (vrša, “fish-trap”), Polish wiersza (“fish-trap”), Russian and Ukrainian ве́рша (vérša, “fish-trap”), Serbo-Croatian вр̑ша, vȓša (“fish-trap”), Slovak and Slovene vrša (“fish-trap”), Aghwan 𐔱𐕒𐕙𐔵 (borz, “labour, work”), Armenian գործ (gorc, “work”), Northern Kurdish werz (“bed, field, patch; season”), Avestan 𐬬𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬰 (vər^əz, “to do, work”), Persian ورز (varz, “art, craft, trade”), ورزه (varze, “art, profession, trade”), ورزیدن (varzidan, “to exercise; to train; to work”), Tocharian B warkṣäl (“energy, power, strength”). English cognates include bulwark, boulevard, energy, erg, georgic, liturgy, metallurgy, organ, surgeon, wright. Doublet of erg and ergon.

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English werken and worchen, from Old English wyrċan and wircan (Mercian), from Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną (“to work”), from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥ǵyéti (“to be working, to be at work”), from the root *werǵ-. Cognate with Old Frisian werka, wirka, Old Saxon wirkian, Low German warken, Dutch werken, Old High German wurken (German wirken, werken and werkeln), Old Norse yrkja and orka, (Swedish yrka and orka), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (waurkjan).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishwerk
      • inheritedOld Englishweorc
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*werk
      • inheritedOld Englishwærc
        • inheritedProto-Germanic*warkiz “pain”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishworchen “to work”
      • inheritedOld Englishwyrċan “to work”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*wurkijan
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*wurkijaną “to work”
            • inheritedProto-Indo-European*wr̥ǵyéti “to be working, to be at work”
              • derivedProto-Indo-Europeanthe
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*wirkijan
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*wirkijaną
            • partProto-Germanic*werką “work”
              • inheritedProto-Indo-European*wérǵom “work”
                • inheritedProto-Indo-European*werǵ- “to make”
            • partProto-Germanic*-janą
              • inheritedProto-Indo-European*-yéti
              • inheritedProto-Indo-European*-éyeti
                • derivedProto-Indo-European*-yeti
          • partProto-West Germanic*-jan

    Related: English erg (doublet), English ergon (doublet), Scots wark, North Frisian werk, Saterland Frisian Wierk, West Frisian wurk, Dutch werk, German Werk, German Low German Wark, Luxembourgish Wierk, Danish værk, fo,is,nb,nn,sv verk, Breton ober, Cornish gul, ga,gd fearg, Manx ferg, Pictish ᚒᚏᚏᚐᚉᚈ, Welsh gwneud, Greek έργο, Albanian argëtim, Lithuanian váržas, Macedonian врша, Polish wiersza, ru,uk ве́рша

    Words built on it: the, working, make-work, do a lot of work, stop-work, police work

    Meanings

    noun
    1. Labour, occupation, job.
    2. The place where one is employed.
    3. One's employer.
    4. A factory; a works.
    5. Effort expended on a particular task.
    6. Sustained effort to overcome obstacles and achieve a result.
    verb
    1. To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
    2. Said of one's workplace (building), or one's department, or one's trade (sphere of business) [with in or at].
    3. Said of one's job title [with as].
    4. Said of a company or individual who employs [with for].
    5. General use, said of either fellow employees or instruments or clients [with with].
    6. To be employed or operate in a certain place, area, or speciality.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: work