workman

See also: Workman

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Germanic *werkamann-

Proto-West Germanic *werkamann

Old English weorcmann

Middle English werkman

English workman

From Middle English werkman, from Old English weorcmann (“workman”), from Proto-West Germanic *werkamann, from Proto-Germanic *werkamann- (“workman”), equivalent to work +‎ -man. Compare Dutch werkman (“workman”), German Werkmann (“labourer, workman”), Icelandic verkamaður (“workman”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɝkmən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɜːkmən/
• Hyphenation: work‧man

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

workman (plural workmen)

1. A man who labours for wages.
   • 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Chester (1848)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 58:

     He laid the foundation stone on August 1 1847, and then set around 2,000 workmen loose on the undertaking. The station opened exactly one year later on August 1 1848.

2. An artisan or craftsman.

Derived terms

• a bad workman always blames his tools
• bye-workman
• workmanly

Related terms

• worker
• workwoman

Translations

a man who labours for wages

• Arabic: عَامِل m (ʕāmil), شَغِّيل m (šaḡḡīl)
• Belarusian: рабо́тнік m (rabótnik), працаўні́к m (pracawník), рабо́чы m (rabóčy)
• Bulgarian: рабо́тник (bg) m (rabótnik)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 工人 (zh) (gōngrén)

• Danish: arbejdsmand c
• Dutch: werkman (nl) m, werkmens (nl) m
• Esperanto: laboristo
• Finnish: työmies (fi)
• French: ouvrier (fr) m
• German: Arbeiter (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἐργάτης m (ergátēs)

• Hindi: मज़दूर (hi) m (mazdūr), कामगार (hi) m (kāmgār)
• Icelandic: verkamaður (is) m
• Italian: lavoratore (it) m
• Japanese: 労働者 (ja) (ろうどうしゃ, rōdōsha)
• Khmer: កម្មករ (km) (kamkɑɑ)
• Korean: 노동자(勞動者) (ko) (nodongja), 로동자(勞動者) (ko) (rodongja) (North Korea)
• Latin: operārius m
• Middle English: werkman
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: ажилчин (mn) (ažilčin)

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: کارْگَر (fa) (kârgar), فَعَلِه (fa) (fa'ale) (collective, used as singular), عَمَلِه (fa) (amale) (collective, used as singular)

• Polish: robotnik (pl) m
• Romanian: lucrător (ro) m, muncitor (ro) m
• Russian: рабо́чий (ru) m (rabóčij), рабо́тник (ru) m (rabótnik)
• Swedish: arbetskarl (sv) c, arbetare (sv) c
• Thai: กรรมกร (th) (gam-má-gɔɔn), คนงาน (th) (kon-ngaan)
• Tocharian B: kapyāre
• Ukrainian: робітни́к (uk) m (robitnýk), працівни́к (uk) m (pracivnýk)
• Urdu: مَزدُور m (mazdūr)
• Vietnamese: thợ (vi), người thợ

artisan — see artisan

craftsman — see craftsman

References

• “workman”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Middle English

Noun

workman

1. (Ayenbite) alternative form of werkman