Meanings
plural sweatshops · alternative sweat shop
- A factory or other place of work where pay is low and conditions are poor or even illegal.First known use 1892
I was thrilled to be able to build my own shoes, and my personal iD was offered as a small token of appreciation for the sweatshop workers poised to help me realize my vision.
2001 February 19, Jonah Peretti, quotee, “Jonah Peretti and Nike”, in The GuardianSynonyms: sweat factory
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA factory or other place of work where pay is low and conditions are poor or even illegal.
Origin
From sweat (“to extract money, labour, etc.”, verb) + shop.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 血汗工廠 /血汗工厂
- 血汗工廠 /血汗工厂 (xuèhàn gōngchǎng, xuěhàn gōngchǎng, xiěhàn gōngchǎng)cheap factory
Finnish hikipaja
- hikipajacheap factory
French atelier de misère, atelier d'exploitation
- atelier de misèrecheap factory
- atelier d'exploitationcheap factory
- atelier de pressuragecheap factory
German Sweatshop, Ausbeutungsbetrieb
- Sweatshopcheap factory
- Ausbeutungsbetriebcheap factory
Japanese ブラック企業, ブラック会社
- ブラック企業 (burakku-kigyō)cheap factory
- ブラック会社 (burakku-gaisha)cheap factory
Norwegian Bokmål utbyttingsbedrift
- utbyttingsbedriftcheap factory
Polish fabryka smrodu
- fabryka smroducheap factory
Portuguese fábrica clandestina, ateliê da miséria
- fábrica clandestinacheap factory
- ateliê da misériacheap factory
- fábrica escravizantecheap factory
Russian потого́нка, потогонное произво́дство
- потого́нка (potogónka)cheap factory
- потогонное произво́дство (potogonnoje proizvódstvo)cheap factory
- галера (galera)cheap factory
Spanish taller clandestino
- taller clandestinocheap factory
Swedish låglönefabrik, sweatshop
- låglönefabrikcheap factory
- sweatshopcheap factory
Thai โรงงานนรก
- โรงงานนรก (roong-ngaan-ná-rók)cheap factory
Cite this entry
sweatshop. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweatshop
“sweatshop.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweatshop. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sweatshop,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweatshop.
Source: sweatshop on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.