Etymograph

English

worker

Worker comes from Middle English worchere (werkere), equivalent to work + -er.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500worchere1‘one who works’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1611worker1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English worker
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Fret not thy ſelfe becauſe of euill doers, neither…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500worchereWiktionary, English worker‘one who works’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1611workerWiktionary, English worker. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Fret not thy ſelfe becauſe of euill doers, neither…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with worker, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną ‘to work, to do work’

  • irk ← irken ← yrkja ← ᚹᛟᚱᚨᚺᛏᛟ

through Old English wyrċan ‘to work’

through Middle English worchen ‘to work’

2 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun One who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “worker”. 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 / Middle English worchere / worker