travail
/tɹəˈveɪl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.51 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Specifically, the labor of childbirth.
noun
Alternative form of travois (“a kind of sled”)
verb
To toil.
verb
To go through the labor of childbirth.
Example Sentences
- "Great trauail is created to al men, and an heauie yoke vpon the children of Adam, from the day of their comming forth of their mothers wombe, vntil the day of their burying, into the mother of al. […]"
- "But as every thing of price, so this doth require travail."
- "Travell and pleasure, most unlike in nature, are notwithstanding followed together by a kind of I wot not what natural conjunction[…]."
- "But I know that to-day there are great questions calling for an answer, wrongs clamoring to be righted, a people in travail that pleads for ease!"
- "He had thought of making a destiny for himself, through laborious and untiring travail."
- ""Machine Madness" details the travails Rocko endures as he gets sucked into an infomercial and tries to find the perfect mail-order vacuum-cleaner, attempts to return from the laundromat with all of his socks, and finds creative ways to take out the garbage."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tréyes Proto-Indo-European *tri- Proto-Italic *tri- Latin tri- Latin pālus Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂der.? Proto-Italic *-is Latin -is Latin tripālis Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -iusnom. Latin -ium ▲ Byzantine Greek τριπάσσαλον (tripássalon)calq.? Latin tripālium Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -āre Vulgar Latin *tripāliāre Old French travaillerdeverb. Old French travailbor. Middle English travail English travail Inherited from Middle English travail, borrowed from Old French travail (“suffering, torment”), deverbal from travailler, from Vulgar Latin *tripāliāre (“to torment”), from Latin tripālium (“torture device”) + -āre (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of travel and travois.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: travailen, travailler