work

English Online Dictionary. What means work‎? What does work mean?

English

Alternative forms

• (obsolete) werke, worke
• (nonstandard, AAVE) wuk
• (obsolete except as LGBT slang) werk

Pronunciation

• enPR: wûrk, IPA^(key): /wɜː(ɹ)k/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɜːk/, [wɜːk]
    • (MLE) IPA^(key): [wɜːk], [wœːk]
    • (Broad Geordie) IPA^(key): [wɔːk]
    • (Liverpool) IPA^(key): [wɛːk]
    • (DE) IPA^(key): [wʊːɹk]
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /wɝk/, [wɚk]
    • (New York City, Southern US, dated) IPA^(key): /wɜɪ̯k/
  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): /wɵːk/
  • (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /wøːk/
  • (Canada) IPA^(key): [wɚːk], [wəɹk]
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)k

Etymology 1

From Middle English work, werk, from Old English weorc, from Proto-West Germanic *werk, from Proto-Germanic *werką, from Proto-Indo-European *wérǵom.

Akin to Scots wark, Saterland Frisian Wierk, West Frisian wurk, Dutch werk, German Werk, German Low German Wark, Danish værk, Norwegian Bokmål verk, Norwegian Nynorsk verk, Swedish verk, yrke and orka, Icelandic verk, Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌺𐌹 (gawaurki), Ancient Greek ἔργον (érgon, “work”) (from ϝέργον (wérgon)), Avestan 𐬬𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬰 (vər^əz, “to work, to perform”), Armenian գործ (gorc, “work”), Albanian argëtoj (“entertain, reward, please”). English cognates include bulwark, boulevard, energy, erg, georgic, liturgy, metallurgy, organ, surgeon, wright. Doublet of erg and ergon.

Noun

work (countable and uncountable, plural works)

1. (uncountable) Employment.
   1. labour, occupation, job.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:occupation
   2. The place where one is employed.

   3. (by extension) One's employer.

   4. (dated) A factory; a works.
2. (uncountable) Effort.
   1. effort expended on a particular task.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:work

   2. Sustained effort to overcome obstacles and achieve a result.
   3. Something on which effort is expended.

   4. (physics) A measure of energy expended in moving an object; most commonly, force times distance. No work is done if the object does not move.

   5. (physics, more generally) A measure of energy that is usefully extracted from a process.
3. Product; the result of effort.
   1. (uncountable, often in combination) The result of a particular manner of production.

   2. (uncountable, often in combination) Something produced using the specified material or tool.

   3. (countable) A literary, artistic, or intellectual production.
   4. (countable) A fortification.

4. (uncountable, slang, professional wrestling) The staging of events to appear as real.
5. (mining) Ore before it is dressed.
6. (slang, plural only) The equipment needed to inject a drug (syringes, needles, swabs etc.)

Derived terms

Descendants

• Pijin: waka

Translations

See also

• (product (combining form)): -ing

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).

Verb

work (third-person singular simple present works, present participle working, simple past and past participle worked or (rare/archaic) wrought)

1. (intransitive) To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
   1. Said of one's workplace (building), or one's department, or one's trade (sphere of business) [with in or at].

   2. Said of one's job title [with as].

   3. Said of a company or individual who employs [with for].

   4. General use, said of either fellow employees or instruments or clients [with with].

   5. (transitive) To work or operate in a certain place, area, or speciality.

   6. (transitive) To work or operate in, through, or by means of.

2. (intransitive) To function correctly; to act as intended; to achieve the goal designed for.

3. (transitive) To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen.
   1. To set into action.

   3. To exhaust, by working.
   4. To shape, form, or improve a material.

   5. To provoke or excite; to influence.

   6. To use or manipulate to one’s advantage.

   7. (law) To cause to happen or to occur as a consequence.
   8. To force to work.

4. (intransitive) To move or progress slowly or with difficulty.
   1. (transitive) To move or progress slowly [with one's way].

5. (transitive) To cause to move slowly or with difficulty.
6. (transitive) To embroider with thread.
7. (intransitive) To ferment.
8. (transitive) To cause to ferment.
9. (intransitive, figuratively) To influence.

10. (intransitive) To move in an agitated manner.
11. (intransitive) To behave in a certain way when handled

12. (ditransitive, poetic) To cause (someone) to feel (something); to do unto somebody (something, whether good or bad).
13. (obsolete, intransitive) To hurt; to ache.
14. (slang, transitive) To pull off; to wear, perform, etc. successfully or to advantage.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Cantonese: work (adjective)

Translations

Further reading

• "work" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 334.

References

Chinese

Etymology

From English work (verb).

Pronunciation

Adjective

work (Hong Kong Cantonese)

1. working as intended; functioning
2. effective

Verb

work (Hong Kong Cantonese)

1. to work as intended; to function

References

• English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese