Etymology Explorer › Middle French

Where does “travail” come from?

travail (Middle French) comes from Old French travail, from Old French travailler, from Vulgar Latin tripaliare, from Latin tripalium, from Latin tripālis, from Latin -ium, from Latin -ius, from Proto-Italic -jōs — Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems.

travail (Middle French): suffering; pain

Definitions

  1. suffering; pain

Ancestry of “travail”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchtravailsuffering, torment
2Old FrenchtravaillerAlternative form of traveillier; to suffer; to...
3Vulgar Latintripaliareto work; present active infinitive of *tripaliō
4Latintripaliumtorture instrument; a torture instrument
5Latintripālis—
6Latin-iumSuffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes...
7Latin-iusforming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter...
8Proto-Italic-jōsForms comparative adjectives
9Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems

Words derived from “travail”

  • travois
  • télétravailleur
  • travailliste
  • travail
  • télétravail
  • travay
  • travail
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →