toiling
Meaning
working extremely hard or incessantly
hard, continuous work
Structure
Usage
the farmers were toiling in the fields from dawn till dusk.
after years of toiling in obscurity, her novel finally became a success.
the constant toiling took a heavy toll on his health.
Etymology
the word 'toiling' originates from the old french verb toillier, which carried meanings of struggle and contention. this french term is thought to derive from the latin tudiculare, meaning to crush or grind, itself related to tudes, a hammer. the semantic journey moved from the literal sense of pounding or crushing to the figurative sense of struggling laboriously. the addition of the present participle suffix '-ing', from old english, transforms the verb into a form describing the continuous, ongoing state of engaging in such strenuous effort, perfectly capturing the essence of sustained, hard work.
Analysis
toil (from old french toillier, meaning "to struggle, argue, or make dirty," likely from latin tudiculare, "to crush, grind," from tudes, "hammer") + ing (from old english -ende, present participle suffix, indicating ongoing action or state).