travail

Meanings

1. Arduous or painful exertion; excessive labor, suffering, hardship.
2. Specifically, the labor of childbirth.
3. An act of working; labor (US), labour (British).
4. The eclipse of a celestial object.
5. Obsolete form of travel.
6. Alternative form of travois (“a kind of sled”)

1. To toil.
2. To go through the labor of childbirth.

Etymology

Possible appearance of a tripalium Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tréyes Proto-Italic *trēs Latin trēsder. Latin tri- Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-der. Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-slos Proto-Italic *pākslos Latin pālus Latin -is Latin tripālis Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ium Byzantine Greek τριπάσσαλον (tripássalon)calq.? Vulgar Latin tripālium Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Vulgar 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 tripālium (“torture device”) + -āre (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of travel and travois.