chore

See also: Appendix:Variations of "chore"

English

Etymology 1

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 Saterland Frisian kiere, käire (“to turn”), Old Saxon kērian, Old High German chēran (“to turn”) (German kehren (“to turn”), Dutch keren (“to turn”)). See also char.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: chô, IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɔː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: chôr, IPA^(key): /t͡ʃoɹ/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: chōr, IPA^(key): /t͡ʃo(ː)ɹ/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃoə/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)

Noun

chore (plural chores)

1. A task, especially a regularly needed task for the upkeep of a home or similar, such as housecleaning or preparing meals.

   Synonym: (formal) domesticity

   Before we moved in together, my partner and I divided up the chores: he cooks and vacuums, and I do the dishes and laundry.

   The children were made to do their daily chores before being allowed to play games.

2. A task that is difficult, unpleasant, or tediously routine.

   I used to enjoy being self-employed, but it's become a bit of a chore recently.

   • 1978, Richard Nixon, RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon‎^[1], Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 418:

     Shorty after his nomination as Chief Justice was announced, it came to light that while on the Court, Fortas, a close friend of Johnson's, had performed a number of personal and political chores for him. This was a clear violation of the principle of separation of powers.

Derived terms

• choreboy
• chore coat
• choreful
• chore horse
• chore jacket
• choreless
• chorelike
• choreman
• choresome
• chore wheel
• chorewoman

Related terms

• char, ajar

Translations

a difficult, unpleasant, or routine task — see also task,‎ to-do

• Arabic: عَمَلٌ رُوتِينِيّ m (ʕamalun rūtīniyy)
• Bulgarian: неприя́тна ра́бота f (neprijátna rábota)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 家務 / 家务 (gaa¹ mou⁶), 家事 (gaa¹ si⁶)

  Hokkien: 家務 / 家务 (zh) (ka-bū), 家事 (zh-min-nan) (ka-sū)

  Mandarin: 家務 / 家务 (zh) (jiāwù) (housework), 家事 (zh) (jiāshì) (housework), 苦差事 (zh) (kǔchāishi) (drudgery)

• Dutch: taak (nl) f
• Esperanto: farotaĵo
• Finnish: taloustyö (fi), askare (fi), puuha (fi)
• French: corvée (fr) f, tâche (fr) f
• Galician: tarefa (gl) f
• German: leidige Aufgabe f, lästige Pflicht f, Hausarbeit (de) f (homework), häusliche Arbeit f
• Greek: αγγαρεία (el) f (angareía)

  Ancient Greek: ἀγγαρεία f (angareía)

• Hebrew: מַטָּלָה (he) (matalá)
• Hungarian: házimunka (hu)
• Ido: tasketo
• Italian: corvè f
• Japanese: 雑用 (ja) (ざつよう, zatsuyō) (miscellaneous affairs), 家事 (ja) (かじ, kaji) (housework), 雑務 (ja) (ざつむ, zatsumu) (odd jobs)
• Korean: 가사(家事) (ko) (gasa), 허드렛일 (heodeuresil)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hverdagsrutine m, plikt (no) m

• Polish: zadanie (pl) n, obowiązek (pl) m
• Portuguese: tarefa (pt) f, porre (pt) m (Brazil)
• Romanian: muncă casnică f
• Russian: рути́нная рабо́та f (rutínnaja rabóta), дома́шняя рабо́та (ru) f (domášnjaja rabóta) (homework), неприя́тная рабо́та f (neprijátnaja rabóta) (unpleasant task), обя́занность (ru) f (objázannostʹ) (duty)
• Spanish: mandado (es) m, tarea (es) f, faena (es) f
• Swedish: (tråkigt) rutinarbete n, (tråkig) rutinuppgift c
• Telugu: చాకిరీ (te) (cākirī)
• Ukrainian: рутинна робота (rutynna robota), домашня робота (domašnja robota)

Verb

chore (third-person singular simple present chores, present participle choring, simple past and past participle chored)

1. (US, dated) To do chores.
   • 1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, Prairie Kid; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 49:

     Somewhere there must be an outfit that needed a wrangler on the home place, a helper to bring in the cavy for the cowboys and chore around for the cook.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “chore”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Etymology 2

Possibly derived from Romani ćor (“thief”), see also Geordie word chor.

Alternative forms

• chor (Geordie)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: chô, IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɔː/
• (General American) enPR: chôr, IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɔɹ/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: chōr, IPA^(key): /t͡ʃo(ː)ɹ/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃoə/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)

Verb

chore (third-person singular simple present chores, present participle choring, simple past and past participle chored)

2. (Scotland, dialect) To steal.
   • 1996, Sheena Blackhall, Wittgenstein's Web: Scottish Short Stories, page 11:

     "Graham Reid's the thief. I saw him chore the sweeties. Bit naebody's gaun tae believe a spikkin boolie. ..."

Synonyms

• steal (standard English)
• thieve (standard English)
• twoc (Geordie)

Etymology 3

Noun

chore (plural chores)

1. (obsolete) A choir or chorus.
   • a. 1638 (date written), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Under-woods. Consisting of Divers Poems. (please specify the poem)”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard Meighen, published 1640, →OCLC:

     On every wall, and sung where e'er I walk. I number these, as being of the chore

Anagrams

• Roche, ocher, ochre, roche

Galician

Verb

chore

1. inflection of chorar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative
2. third-person singular present indicative of chorir

Latin

Noun

chore

1. vocative singular of chorus

Lower Sorbian

Adjective

chore

1. superseded spelling of chóre

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxɔ.rɛ/
• Rhymes: -ɔrɛ
• Syllabification: cho‧re

Adjective

chore

1. inflection of chory:
   1. neuter nominative/accusative/vocative singular
   2. nonvirile nominative/accusative/vocative plural

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɔ.ɾi/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɔ.ɾɨ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɔ.ɾɨ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɔ.ɾɨ/

• Hyphenation: cho‧re

Verb

chore

1. inflection of chorar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative
2. inflection of chorir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Swahili

Verb

-chore

1. subjunctive stem of -chora