overwordExplorer
LATIN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

labor.

labor/toil/exertion/effort/work; task/undertaking; production; childbirth; preoccupation/concern; struggle/suffering/distress/hardship/stress; wear+tear;

5 characters2 syllables approx.Latina language

Meaning & usage

noun[ˈɫa.bɔr]Classical-Latin[ˈlaː.bor]
  1. work

    declension-3 · masculine
  2. labor, toil, exertion

    declension-3 · masculine
  3. hardship, trouble, fatigue, suffering, drudgery, distress

    declension-3 · masculine · poetic
  4. illness

    declension-3 · masculine
  5. the pain accompanying childbirth, labour

    declension-3 · masculine
Where this word comes from

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 (“to 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 suggests a possible root *dh̥₂bʰ-ōs, cognate with Lithuanian dobti (“to strike, beat, kill, (dial.) torment, exhaust”). See source for more.

verb[ˈɫaː.bɔr]Classical-Latin[ˈlaː.bor]
  1. to slip, slide, glide; (of fluids) to flow gently

    conjugation-3 · deponent
  2. to fall, sink down

    conjugation-3 · deponent
  3. to slip, stumble

    conjugation-3 · deponent
  4. to vanish, pass away, elapse, escape

    conjugation-3 · deponent
  5. to be mistaken, be wrong, err, commit a fault

    conjugation-3 · deponent
Where this word comes from

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

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

labor has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

labor studiolabor workshello, labor

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.