hireling

Meanings

1. An employee who is hired, often to perform unpleasant tasks with little independence.
2. Someone who does a job purely for money, rather than out of interest in the work itself.
3. A horse for hire.
4. A prostitute.

Etymology

From Middle English hirlyng, from Old English hȳrling (“hireling, employee”), from Proto-West Germanic *hūʀijuling. Cognate with West Frisian hierling, Dutch huurling (“hireling, mercenary”), German Low German Hüürling, German Heuerling. By surface analysis, hire + -ling.