Other forms: chores
A chore is a boring routine job around the house. Do the chores, a daily chore, household chores.
It is unavoidable, repetitive and unrewarding, and the word carries all three. Household chores are the standing example. Applied to anything else it means a task that feels like a burden — filling in that form is a chore. Note that chore is a variant of an older word char, meaning a turn of work, which survives in charwoman and charlady, both now historical.
1nounchoreA boring routine job around the house.
“Washing the dishes is the chore I hate most.”
2nountaskAny task that feels like a burden.
“Filling in the tax form every year is a real chore.”
chore is a routine task.
Also accepted in games: task
Chore is a variant of char, from Old English cierr, a turn, from cierran, to turn. A charwoman did a turn of work, which is where the word comes from.
Proto-Indo-European
*gers- — to bend, turn
Proto-Germanic
*karzijaną — to turn
Old English
ċerr
Middle English
charr
English, today
chore
Built from
From earlier char, from Middle English charr, charre, cherre (“odd job, turn, occasion, business”), from Old English ċerr, ċierr (“a turn”), from ċierran (“to turn”), from Proto-Germanic karzijaną (“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European gers- (“to bend, turn”). Cognate with Dutch keer (“time; turn; occasion”), German Kehre (“a turn; bend; wind; back-flip; u-turn”). Also related to stq kiere, käire (“to turn”), Old Saxon kērian, Old High German chēran (“to turn”) (German kehren (“to turn”), Dutch keren (“to turn”)). See also char.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA