manure

The word 'manure' originates from the Anglo-Norman verb manoverer and Old French manouvrer, meaning "to work or cultivate land by hand." This traces back to the Latin phrase manu operare, literally "to work with the hand." The core Latin root is manus (hand), from Proto-Indo-European man- (hand). The original sense was the general labor of cultivating soil. Over time, the meaning narrowed specifically to the action of applying dung to enrich the soil, and then to the fertilizing substance itself, reflecting the primary manual task involved in traditional farming.

Structure: man (hand) + ure (noun suffix denoting action or result) 'man' is from Latin manus (hand), indicating manual work. 'ure' is a noun-forming suffix of Latin origin (-ura), denoting an action, process, or result.