Labourers

/ˈleɪ.bər.ərz/ noun

Definition

People who do physical work or hard manual work, usually for wages; workers in factories, farms, or construction.

Etymology

From Old French 'labour' and Latin 'laborare' meaning 'to work or toil.' The suffix '-er' denotes a person who does the action. 'Labour' originally meant physical exertion, and the spelling 'labour' with a 'u' is British English (Americans use 'labor').

Kelly Says

The history of the word 'labourer' is the history of class struggle! In medieval times it meant any worker, but by the Industrial Revolution it specifically meant factory workers, which became a politically charged identity. Karl Marx wrote about 'labourers' as a revolutionary class.

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