Other forms: works, worked, working
Work is what you do to earn a living, and the doing of it: you work at a bakery, you leave for work at seven, you come home from work. It is also any effort that costs you something — digging a bed over, learning a language, getting a toddler into a coat.
The verb goes far past jobs. A machine works when it runs (the lift is not working), a plan works when it does what you wanted (that trick never works on him), a tablet works when it takes effect. The noun turns into a made thing as well: a work of art, the complete works of Dickens, the works of a clock. Watch the grammar, because this one catches everyone — work in the job sense has no plural and no a, so you say I have a lot of work, never I have many works. And at work means two things at once: at your workplace, and in action, as in the forces at work behind the scenes.
1verbworkTo do a job, especially one you are paid for.~10%
“She works in a hospital three nights a week.”
2verbrunTo run or function as it should.~2%
“The heating stopped working the day the cold came in.”
3verbeffectTo have the effect that was wanted.~2%
“The new arrangement worked better than anyone expected.”
4verbputTo put sustained effort into something.~2%
“He worked on the engine all weekend and got nowhere.”
5nounactivityActivity done to achieve something, especially as a job.~42%
“There is a week of work left before the flat is finished.”
6nounplaceThe place where you do your job.~4%
“She left work early to catch the last train.”
7nounartistSomething made by an artist, writer or composer.~38%
“The gallery holds three late works by the painter.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 28 sentences found in the wild and placed 27 of them on a sense (1 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Work has been in English as long as English has been English: Old English weorc, from Proto-Germanic *werką, from a Proto-Indo-European root that meant simply to make. The relatives are still standing next door — German Werk, Dutch werk, Swedish verk. Few everyday words have travelled so many centuries with so little damage.
Middle English
werk
English, today
work
From Middle English werk. From Middle English work, werk, from Old English weorc, from Proto-West Germanic werk, from Proto-Germanic werką (“work”), from Proto-Indo-European wérǵom (“work”), from Proto-Indo-European werǵ- (“to make”). 2
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA