office
/ˈɔf.ɪs/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.40 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A ceremonial duty or service, particularly
noun
A ceremonial duty or service
noun
A ceremonial duty or service
noun
A ceremonial duty or service
noun
A ceremonial duty or service
noun
A ceremonial duty or service
noun
A ceremonial duty or service
Example Sentences
- "Golde (gaue he him)[…]for all maner of veſſels of euery offyce[…]"
- "In the Latin rite, all bishops, priests, and transitional deacons are obliged to recite the Divine Office daily."
- "His spirituall exercises were chiefly Prayer, the H. Sacrifice of Masse, his Canonicall Houres or diuine Office."
- "The deuout offices of balming and anointing the dead bodies[…]"
- "To show their loue in this last office done To a dead friend."
- "I[…]will be first to render thee the decent offices due to the dead."
Etymology
From Middle English office, from Old French office, from Latin officium (“personal, official, or moral duty; official position; function; ceremony, esp. last rites”), contracted from opificium (“construction: the act of building or the thing built”), from opifex (“doer of work, craftsman”) + -ium (“-y”, forming actions), from op- (“work”) + -i- (connective) + -fex (combining form of faciō (“to do, to make”)). In the religious sense, Displaced native Old English hād. The computing sense is a genericization of various proprietary program suites, such as Microsoft Office.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *h₃ep-, office, officium
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɔf.ɪs/
- British English: /ˈɒf.ɪs/
Usage
- Obsolete
- Archaic
- Slang
- American usage
- Australian usage
- British usage
- Dated
- Intransitive verb