forwork

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forwork

Where it comes from

From Middle English forwirken, forwerken, forwurchen, from Old English forwyrċan (“to do wrong, sin; ruin, undo, destroy; condemn, convict, curse; forfeit; barricade, obstruct, close up”), from Proto-Germanic *frawurkijaną, equivalent to for- + work. Cognate with Dutch verwerken (“to digest, assimilate, work up, put into action”), German verwirken (“to forfeit”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (frawaurkjan).

verb forworks · forworking · forworked · forwrought

archaic, transitive To forfeit (a possession, privilege, etc.); ruin (oneself) by one's own conduct.
Similar: shoot oneself in the foot
archaic, transitive To obstruct; barricade; block. And Æthelwold sat within the ham, with the men that to him had bowed, and he had forwrought [obstructed] all the gates in, and said that he would either there live or there lie.
Similar: forslow, barricade, block, choke, clog, close off, cumber, forwork, foul, gunk up, hamper, hinder
archaic, transitive To do wrong to; injure; scathe.
Similar: harm, wound, abuse, annoy, bewound, damage, damnify, dere, do damage to, do for, do ill, do violence to
archaic, transitive To overwork; exhaust with toil. And toiling so, well-nigh forwrought, She prayed full fervently; […]
Similar: burn out, overburden, overlabour, overply, overtax, run someone ragged

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MLA

"forwork." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/forwork. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

forwork. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/forwork

Chicago

"forwork." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/forwork.

BibTeX

@misc{forwork_2026,
  title = {forwork},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/forwork},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}