Etymology

worker

W4O1R1K5E1R1

Today it means: One who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor. Full definition →

Middle English werkere, worchere ← Old English wyrċan ← Proto-West Germanic *wirkijan
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*werǵ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*wr̥ǵyéti
  3. Proto-Germanic*wurkijaną
  4. Proto-West Germanic*wurkijan
  5. Proto-Indo-European*werǵ-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*wérǵom
  7. Proto-Germanic*werką
  8. Proto-Germanic*wirkijaną
  9. Proto-West Germanic*wirkijan
  10. Old Englishwyrċan
  11. Middle Englishworchen
  12. Middle Englishwerkere, worchere
  13. English todayworker

Inherited from Middle English worchere, werkere, equivalent to work + -er. Displaced the older term wright, from Old English wyrhta.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.