homework

English

Etymology

From home +‎ work.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhəʊmˌwɜːk/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhoʊmˌwɝk/

Noun

homework (usually uncountable, plural homeworks)

1. Work that is done at home, especially school exercises assigned by a teacher.
   • 2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:

     Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. […] Children address teachers by their first names. Even 15-year-olds do no more than 30 minutes'^[sic] homework a night.

   You must do your homework before you can watch television.

2. Preliminary or preparatory work, such as research.

   The speaker had certainly done his homework before delivering the lecture.

3. (uncommon) Housework.

Usage notes

The term is generally used to refer to primary or secondary school assignments as opposed to college-level coursework.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:homework.

Translations

work that is done at home

• Afrikaans: huiswerk (af)
• Arabic: وَاجِب‎ (ar) (wājib)

  Gulf Arabic: واجب‎ (wɑːdʒɪb)

• Armenian: տնային աշխատանք (tnayin ašxatankʿ), դաս (hy) (das)
• Azerbaijani: ev tapşırığı
• Bashkir: өйгә эш (öygä eš)
• Belarusian: ха́тняе зада́нне n (xátnjaje zadánnje), ха́тняя пра́ца f (xátnjaja práca)
• Bulgarian: дома́шна ра́бота f (domášna rábota)
• Burmese: အိမ်စာ (my) (imca)
• Catalan: deures (ca) m pl
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 功課, 功课 (gung¹ fo³)

  Mandarin: 作業 (zh), 作业 (zh) (zuòyè), 家庭作業 (zh), 家庭作业 (zh) (jiātíng zuòyè), 功課 (zh), 功课 (zh) (gōngkè)

• Cornish: ober tre m
• Czech: domácí úkol m, domácí úkoly pl
• Danish: lektier pl, hjemmearbejde n
• Dutch: huiswerk (nl), huistaak (nl)
• Esperanto: hejmtasko
• Faroese: skúlating n pl
• Finnish: läksyt (fi) pl, kotitehtävä (fi)
• French: devoirs (fr) m pl
• Georgian: საშინაო დავალება (sašinao davaleba)
• German: Hausaufgaben (de) pl
• Hebrew: עבודת בית‎, שיעורי בית‎
• Hindi: गृहकार्य m (gŕhakārya)
• Hungarian: házi feladat (hu)
• Icelandic: heimavinna f
• Indonesian: pekerjaan rumah
• Irish: obair bhaile f
• Italian: compito (it) m, compiti (it) m pl

• Japanese: 宿題 (ja) (しゅくだい, shukudai)
• Korean: 숙제 (ko) (sukje) (宿題 (ko))
• Lao: ວຽກບ້ານ (wīak bān)
• Latin: pensum n
• Lithuanian: namų darbai
• Malay: kerja rumah
• Maltese: ħomwerk, xogħol għad-dar
• Maori: mahi kāinga
• Mongolian: гэрийн даалгавар (geriin daalgavar)
• Navajo: ółtaʼí hooghandi yinidoolnishígíí
• Norwegian: lekse m or f, hjemmelekse m or f
• Persian: مشق‎ (fa) (mashq)
• Polish: zadanie domowe (pl) n, praca domowa (pl) f
• Portuguese: tarefa (pt), dever de casa, tarefa de casa, lição de casa (pt)
• Romanian: temă (ro) f
• Russian: дома́шнее зада́ние (ru) n (domášneje zadánije), дома́шняя рабо́та (ru) f (domášnjaja rabóta), дома́шка (ru) f (domáška) (colloquial)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: домаћи рад m, домаћа задаћа f

  Roman: domaći rad m, domaća zadaća f, domaći uradak m

• Slovak: domáca úloha f
• Spanish: deberes m pl (Argentina, Spain, Uruguay), tarea (es) f (Latin America)
• Swedish: läxa (sv) c, hemläxa c, hemuppgift (sv) c
• Tagalog: takdang-aralin
• Thai: การบ้าน (th) (gaan-bâan)
• Turkish: ödev (tr), ev ödevi
• Ukrainian: дома́шнє завда́ння n (domášnje zavdánnja), дома́шня робо́та f (domášnja robóta)
• Uyghur: تاپشۇرۇق‎ (tapshuruq)
• Vietnamese: bài tập, bài tập về nhà
• Welsh: gwaith cartref m
• Yiddish: היימאַרבעט‎ f (heymarbet)

preliminary or preparatory work

• Afrikaans: huiswerk (af)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 研究 (zh) (yánjiū), 准备工作

• Dutch: huiswerk (nl)
• Finnish: kotiläksyt pl, valmistautuminen
• German: Hausaufgaben (de) pl

• Latin: pensum n
• Maori: mahi kāinga
• Romanian: temă (ro) f
• Russian: подготови́тельная рабо́та f (podgotovítelʹnaja rabóta), иссле́дование (ru) n (isslédovanije)
• Spanish: tarea (es) f
• Swedish: hemläxa c

See also

• busy work
• schoolwork

Anagrams

• workhome