- Today's Word
Travail
truh-VAYL
Definition
(verb/noun) Painful or laborious effort; hard and exhausting work.
Example
After months of travail, the research team finally achieved a breakthrough in their experiments.
Word Origin
Middle English: from Old French “travail,” from “travailler” meaning “to toil,” ultimately from Latin “trepalium,” a torture instrument made of three stakes.
Fun Fact
Travail’s connection to a torture device reflects just how grueling the word implies work to be—this isn’t mere effort, it’s agonizing labor. Historically, “travail” was also the specific term for the pains of childbirth, considered among the most intense physical ordeals a person could endure. While “travel” and “travail” share the same medieval root (journeys were once exhausting, dangerous ordeals), modern travel has become comfortable enough that we split them into separate words. Yet travail remains in our vocabulary precisely for those moments when work feels less like a journey and more like torture.