English
worker
Worker comes from Middle English worchere (werkere), equivalent to work + -er.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500worchere‘one who works’
- Englishearliest quotation 1611worker
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500worchere‘one who works’
- Englishearliest quotation 1611worker
Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Fret not thy ſelfe becauſe of euill doers, neither…”
Formed from work + -er
Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- ‘to make’
…
Proto-Germanic *werką
Proto-West Germanic *werk
Old English weorc ‘labor’
Middle English work
English work
Linked words
through Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną ‘to work, to do work’
through Old English wyrċan ‘to work’
through Middle English worchen ‘to work’
Today it means
noun One who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English worchere / worker