Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “employment” come from?

Employment derives from Middle French emploiement, from employer meaning "to use or engage," ultimately from Latin implicare meaning "to involve or engage," combined with the Latin noun-forming suffix -mentum and the prefix in-.

employment (English): The work or occupation for which one is used, and...

Definitions

  1. The work or occupation for which one is used, and...

Ancestry of “employment”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishemployThe state of being an employee; employment; The...
2Frenchemploijob; employment; use; need
3Frenchemployerto employ
4Middle Frenchemployerto employ; to use; to make use of
5Old FrenchemploierAlternative form of emploiier
6Latinimplicō—
7Latinīn-—
8Latinîn—
9Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
10Proto-Italicenin
11Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “employment”

  • unemployment
  • underemployment
  • reemployment
  • nonemployment
  • disemployment
  • misemployment
  • antiunemployment
  • antiemployment
  • malemployment
  • self-employment
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →