# labor
## English
### Alternative forms

* labour (non-American spelling)

### Pronunciation

* (US) IPA: /ˈleɪ.bɚ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪbə(ɹ)

### Noun

labor (countable and uncountable, plural labors)
* (chiefly American spelling) Alternative spelling of labour

#### Derived terms

* affective labor
* anti-labor
* aristocracy of labor
* back labor
* belabor
* big labor
* bonded labor
* child labor
* day labor
* division of labor
* emotional labor
* forced labor
* ghost labor
* hard labor
* introversive labor
* labor action
* labor aristocracy
* labor camp
* Labor Day
* laborer
* labor exchange
* labor force
* labor-intensive
* labor-intensiveness
* laborization
* labor law
* labor market
* labor of love
* labor pain
* labor power
* labor relations
* labor-saving
* labor share
* labor theory of value
* labor the point
* labor union
* labor-value theory
* labor value theory
* manual labor
* means of labor
* micro-labor
* prison labor
* sexual division of labor
* Sisyphean labor
* slave labor
* stoop labor
* subject of labor
* touch labor
* wage labor

#### Related terms

* laboral
* laborious

### Verb

labor (third-person singular simple present labors, present participle laboring, simple past and past participle labored)
* US standard spelling of labour.

### Anagrams

* Albor, Albro, Balor, Bolar, bolar, boral, lobar

## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin labōrem.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [ləˈβor]
* IPA: (Balearic) [ləˈbo]
* IPA: (Valencia) [laˈboɾ]

### Noun

labor m (plural labors)
* labour, work

## Estonian
### Etymology

Clipping of laboratoorium.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈlɑb̥or/, [ˈlɑb̥or]
* Rhymes: -ɑbor
* Hyphenation: la‧bor

### Noun

labor (genitive labori, partitive laborit)
* lab, laboratorium
    Synonym: laboratoorium

#### Declension
### References

* labor in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
* “labor”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009

## Hungarian
### Etymology

Borrowed from German Labor.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈlɒbor]
* Hyphenation: la‧bor

### Noun

labor (plural laborok)
* (informal) lab, laboratory
    Synonym: laboratórium

#### Declension
### References

* ↑ Tótfalusi, István. Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára (’A Storehouse of Foreign Words: an explanatory and etymological dictionary of foreign words’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2005. →ISBN

## Latin
### Etymology 1

From Old Latin labōs, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a Proto-Indo-European root *leb- (“to seize, take”), whence Sanskrit लभते (labhate, “take, gain”) and Lithuanian lõbis (“wealth”). More commonly connected with labō (“I totter”) (see Etymology 2 below), via semantic development "teetering under a heavy load" > "burden" > "work", but this is rejected by de Vaan, who however provides no alternative. The semantic connection is weak in either case.
Prósper (2019, 27 (483)) suggests a possible root *dh̥₂bʰ-ōs, cognate with Lithuanian dobti (“to strike, beat, kill, (dial.) torment, exhaust”). See source for more.

#### Alternative forms

* labōs

#### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈla.bor/, [ˈɫ̪äbɔr]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈla.bor/, [ˈläːbor]

#### Noun

labor m (genitive labōris); third declension
* work
* labor, toil, exertion
    Synonyms: cōnātus, studium, opus, opera, cūra, mōlīmen, intēnsiō, mōlēs, pulvis
** 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.641–642:rege Numa, frūctū nōn respondente labōrī, inrita dēceptī vōta colentīs erantWhen Numa was king, the produce not responding to the labor, prayers were ineffective, the farmer deceived
* (chiefly poetic) hardship, trouble, fatigue, suffering, drudgery, distress
** c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico VII.28:Labore operis incitatiIncited by the fatigue of the work
** 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.384–385:et mediae tempora noctis erant, iam ducibus somnum dederat laborIt was midnight, and by now their fatigue had given the leaders sleep.
* illness
    Synonyms: aegritūdō, morbus, malum, pestis, incommodum, valētūdō, infirmitas
    Antonyms: salūs, valētūdō
* the pain accompanying childbirth, labor

##### Declension

Third-declension noun.

##### Derived terms

* labōrō
* ēlabōrō

##### Descendants

* Italo-Dalmatian:
** Istriot: lavur
** Italian: lavoro
** Sicilian: lavuri
** Venetan: łavóro, laóro
* Rhaeto-Romance:
** Friulian: lavôr
** Ladin: lëur
** Romansch: lavur
* Gallo-Romance:
** Catalan: llavor
* Ibero-Romance:
** Asturian: llabor
** >? Galician: labor
** Portuguese: lavor
* Borrowings:
** → Catalan: labor
** → Old French: labor
*** French: labeur
*** → English: labor, labour
** → Esperanto: laboro
** → Ido: laboro
** → Portuguese: labor
** → Romanian: laboare
** → Spanish: labor
** → Welsh: llafur

### Etymology 2

Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂b- (“to hang loosely, be weak”), and cognate with labō, English sleep, Proto-Slavic *slàbъ (“weak”).

#### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈlaː.bor/, [ˈɫ̪äːbɔr]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈla.bor/, [ˈläːbor]

#### Verb

lābor (present infinitive lābī, perfect active lāpsus sum); third conjugation, deponent
* to slip, slide, glide
* to fall, sink down
* to slip, stumble
* to vanish, pass away, elapse, escape
    Synonyms: fugiō, effugiō, ēvādō, refugiō, cōnfugiō, diffugiō, aufugiō, prōfugiō, āvolō, ēripiō, ēlābor
** 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.771–772:Tempora lābuntur, tacitīsque senēscimus annīs, et fugiunt frēnō nōn remorante diēs.Times pass away, and with years unnoticed we grow old, and days flee with no bridle holding [them] back.
* to be mistaken, be wrong, err, commit a fault
    Synonyms: dēlinquō, errō, committō, offendō

##### Conjugation

This verb takes the future passive participle lābundus instead of *lābendus.

##### Derived terms

* collābor
* dīlābor
* ēlābor
* illābor
* interlābor
* lābēs
* lābilis
* lābīna
* lābundus
* lapsō
* lāpsus
* relābor
* subterlābor

### References

* ↑ Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN
* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “labor”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 320
* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “labō, -āre”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 319-20

### Further reading

* “labor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “labor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "labor", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. to exert oneself very energetically in a matter: multum operae ac laboris consumere in aliqua re the matter involves much labour and fatigue: res est multi laboris et sudoris to spare no pains: labori, operae non parcere not to leave off work for an instant: nullum tempus a labore intermittere to spare oneself the trouble of the voyage: labore supersedēre (itineris) (Fam. 4. 2. 4) capable of exertion: patiens laboris lazy: fugiens laboris to take a false step: per errorem labi, or simply labi to make a slip of the memory: memoriā labi to make a mistake in writing: labi in scribendo immorality is daily gaining ground: mores in dies magis labuntur (also with ad, e.g. ad mollitiem) (ambiguous) to drain the cup of sorrow: omnes labores exanclare (ambiguous) rest after toil is sweet: acti labores iucundi (proverb.)
* labor in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016

### Anagrams

* albor, labrō

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin labōrem.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /laˈboʁ/ [laˈboh]
* (Brazil) IPA: /laˈboʁ/ [laˈboh]
** (São Paulo) IPA: /laˈboɾ/
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /laˈboʁ/ [laˈboχ]
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /laˈboɻ/
* (Portugal) IPA: /lɐˈboɾ/ [lɐˈβoɾ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /lɐˈboɾ/ [lɐˈβoɾ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /lɐˈbo.ɾi/ [lɐˈβo.ɾi]

### Noun

labor m (plural labores)
* labor

#### Related terms

* lavor

### Further reading

* “labor”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
* “labor”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin labōrem.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /laˈboɾ/ [laˈβ̞oɾ]
* Rhymes: -oɾ
* Syllabification: la‧bor

### Noun

labor f (plural labores)
* labor
* job, task, chore
    Synonyms: tarea, quehacer
* work, effort
    Synonyms: trabajo, obra
* needlework, embroidery
    Synonyms: costura, bordado

#### Derived terms

* estar por la labor

#### Related terms

* laboral
* laborar
* laborioso
* labrar

### Further reading

* “labor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10