Working

How to spell working

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce working

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does working mean?

1. adjectiveFunctioning properly, or engaged in or relating to labour or employment.
2. nounThe way in which something operates or functions; its internal process.

Working in a sentence

• adjective

  The mechanic confirmed that the heater was in full working order.

• noun

  The engineer explained the working of the new ventilation system.

• adjective

  Most of the working population commutes into the city each morning.

• noun

  The manual describes the working of the gearbox in detail.

Where does working come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word comes from the Old English weorc, meaning 'a deed, an action, or the labour someone performs', which traces back to a shared Germanic root that also gave German Werk and Dutch werk. The verb wyrcan, 'to do or to make', sat alongside it, and over time the noun and verb settled into the single modern form 'work'. The ending -ing is the native English suffix used to form both present participles (as in 'she is working') and verbal nouns (as in 'the working of the engine'), so 'working' has done double duty for centuries. Because the word is so old and entirely Germanic, its spelling is regular and phonetic, with no silent letters or borrowed quirks. The same weorc root survives in everyday relatives such as 'wright' (as in playwright, an old word for a maker) and in 'wrought', the historic past tense of work.

How the word is built

• work (Old English weorc: labour, deed)
• -ing (present participle / verbal noun suffix)