travail

Meanings

Noun

• Arduous or painful exertion; excessive labor, suffering, hardship.
• Specifically, the labor of childbirth.
• An act of working; labor , labour .
• The eclipse of a celestial object.
• Alternative of travois

Verb

• To toil.
• To go through the labor of childbirth.

Origin

• From Middle English travail, from Old French travail, from Vulgar Latin *tripaliō from Late Latin trepālium from Latin tripālis from Proto-Italic *trēs + *pākslos from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-.
• From Middle English travailen, from Old French travaillier, from the noun (see above).