Etymograph

English

labour

Labour comes from Middle English labor, from Old French labor and its source, Latin labor ‘work, toil’, of uncertain origin.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElabor1
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400labor1
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500labor1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1719labour1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English labour
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1719, The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Cruso: “[…]So I ſet myſelf to enlarge my Cave and…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElaborWiktionary, English labour
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400laborWiktionary, English labour
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500laborWiktionary, English labour
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1719labourWiktionary, English labour. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1719, The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Cruso: “[…]So I ſet myſelf to enlarge my Cave and…”

Linked words

through Latin labor

collapse, collaboration, laboratory, elaborate, lava, lapse, laborious, labile, 10 more

Another origin of labour

  1. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCElabōsearlier origin unknown
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElabor‘labor, toil, work, exertion’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElaborare‘to labor, strive, exert oneself, suffer, be in distress, (transitive) to work out’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400laborer‘to work’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500labouren
  6. Englishtodaylabour

Today it means

noun An effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “labour”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin labor / labour

Shirt and support for this word