English
employment
Employment comes from employ, from Middle French employer, from Latin implicō ‘to enfold, involve’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to plait’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-‘to plait, weave’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicō‘to fold’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimplicō‘to enfold, involve’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400emploier
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600employer‘to employ’
- English1500–presentemploy
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1662employment
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-‘to plait, weave’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicō‘to fold’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimplicō‘to enfold, involve’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400emploier
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600employer‘to employ’
- English1500–presentemploy
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1662employment
Earliest quotation: a. 1662, Thomas Fuller, Cornwall: “[…] King Henry [VIII] full fraught all thoſe vvith…”
Formed from -ment
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to plait, to weave’
complex, fiasco, replication, flax, flack, plexus, flagon, 34 more
through Latin plicō ‘fold’
apply, display, reply, explicit, exploitation, exploit, replica, imply, deploy, complication, inexplicable, complicate, accomplice, ply, complicity, supple, ploy, pliable, supplication, triplicate, explication, splay, pliant, 22 more
through Latin implicō ‘enfold, involve, be connected with’
Today it means
noun The occupation or work for which one is used, and often paid.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- / employment