the word 'toiler' is a relatively modern english formation, built upon the older verb 'toil.' the verb 'toil' entered english from old french in the 13th century, originally carrying meanings of struggle and contention, before specializing in the sense of exhausting labor. its ultimate latin root, tudiculare, evokes a vivid image of pounding, beating, and crushing—a metaphor for strenuous effort. the agent suffix '-er,' of germanic origin, is one of english's most productive endings for denoting a person performing an action. thus, a 'toiler' is literally "one who engages in strenuous, crushing work," a meaning that has remained consistent from its literal origins to its modern application for any hard worker or laborer.

Structure: toil (work hard) + er (one who does) toil (from old french toillier, meaning "to struggle, argue, or work with cloth," ultimately from latin tudiculare, "to stir, beat, crush," from tudes, "hammer") + er (agent noun suffix from old english -ere, from proto-germanic -ārijaz, borrowed from latin -ārius)