workaholic
Meaning
a person who works compulsively and finds it difficult to stop working.
Structure
Usage
she's a real workaholic, often staying at the office until midnight.
his workaholic tendencies began to negatively affect his health and family life.
the company culture seemed to reward workaholic behavior.
Etymology
The word is a Modern English blend, coined in the mid-20th century by analogy with 'alcoholic'. The first element, 'work', retains its ancient Germanic meaning of labor or effort, traceable to Proto-Indo-European werg- meaning 'to do'. The suffix '-holic' was abstracted from 'alcoholic', itself derived from the scientific term 'alcohol' combined with the Greek-derived adjectival suffix '-ic'. The formation logic is transparent and humorous, applying the concept of addiction to the domain of labor, thus creating a term for someone compulsively devoted to work.
Analysis
- work: from old english 'weorc', meaning 'something done, action, proceeding, business'. functions as the core noun root. - a: a connective vowel, often used in word formation to join elements. - holic: a modern english suffix extracted from the word 'alcoholic', meaning 'a person addicted to or compulsively dependent on something'.