inwork

I1N1W4O1R1K5

noun

Indoor work; work done inside the home.

OriginMiddle English *inwork ← Old English inweorc ← Proto-West Germanic *inwerk →
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Meanings

inwork1

nouninwork (uncountable)
  1. rareuncountableIndoor work; work done inside the home.

    Many respondents saw their earnings as a marginal, even though often essential, contribution to the household budget and one outside the formal constraints of inwork.

    1981, Cragg, Dawson, Great Britain. Dept. of Employment, Qualitative research among homeworkers

inwork2

verbinwork (third-person singular simple present inworks, present participle inworking, simple past and past participle inwrought or inworked)

present singular third person inworks · participle present inworking · participle past inwrought · past inwrought · participle past inworked · past inworked

  1. archaictransitiveTo work in or into.
  2. archaicintransitiveTo work or operate within.

Origin

inwork · noun

  1. Proto-West Germanic*inwerk
  2. Old Englishinweorc“indoor work”
  3. Middle English*inwork
  4. Englishinwork

From Middle English *inwork, *inwerk, from Old English inweorc (“indoor work”), from Proto-West Germanic *inwerk, equivalent to in- + work. Cognate with Scots inwark, inwork (“domestic work, indoor work”).

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

inwork · verb

From in- + work. Compare Dutch inwerken (“to affect, orient”), German einwirken (“to influence, impinge”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

inwork. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inwork

MLA

“inwork.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inwork. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “inwork,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inwork.

Source: inwork on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.