Etymograph

English

inwork

Inwork comes from Old English inweorc ‘indoor work’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *inwerk.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*inwerk‘work done indoors or within the home’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150inweorc‘indoor work’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*inworkreconstructed
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1981inwork

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*inwerk‘work done indoors or within the home’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150inweorc‘indoor work’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*inworkreconstructed
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1981inwork

Earliest quotation: 1981, Cragg, Dawson: “Many respondents saw their earnings as a marginal, even…”

Formed from in- + work

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’

Proto-Germanic *in ‘into’

English in-

Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- ‘to make’

…

Proto-Germanic *werką

Proto-West Germanic *werk

Old English weorc ‘labor’

Middle English work

English work

Every English word from Proto-West Germanic *inwerk

Today it means

noun Indoor work; work done inside the home.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *inwerk / inwork

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