Where does “travail” come from?
Travel comes from Old French travaillier, from Vulgar Latin tripalio, from Late Latin trepalium, from Latin tripalis, derived from Proto-Italic trēs meaning three.
travail (English): Arduous or painful exertion; excessive labor,...
Definitions
- Arduous or painful exertion; excessive labor,...
Ancestry of “travail”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | travail | — |
| 2 | Old French | travail | suffering, torment |
| 3 | Old French | travailler | Alternative form of traveillier; to suffer; to... |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | tripaliare | to work; present active infinitive of *tripaliō |
| 5 | Latin | tripalium | torture instrument; a torture instrument |
| 6 | Latin | tripālis | that has, or is prop up by, three stake or pale |
| 7 | Latin | -ium | Suffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes... |
| 8 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |