hireling
English · Thesaurus
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hireling
- /ˈhaɪ.ə.lɪŋ/ UK
- /ˈhaɪɹˌlɪŋ/ US
Where it comes from
From Middle English hirlyng, from Old English hȳrling (“hireling, employee”), from Proto-West Germanic *hūʀijuling. Cognate with West Frisian hierling, Dutch huurling (“hireling, mercenary”), German Low German Hüürling,
German Heuerling. By surface analysis, hire + -ling.
noun hirelings
- An employee who is hired, often to perform unpleasant tasks with little independence. Is there not an appointed time to man vpon earth? are not his dayes alſo like the dayes of an hireling?
- Someone who does a job purely for money, rather than out of interest in the work itself. […]it may bee truely affirmed, that no kinde of men loue buſineſſe for it ſelfe, but thoſe that are learned; for other perſons loue it for profite; as an hireling that loues the worke for the wages;
- A horse for hire. In the afternoon they went to a neighbouring livery stables to look for hirellings.
- A prostitute.
Thesaurus
Talk about this word "hireling." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/hireling. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. hireling. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/hireling "hireling." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/hireling.Cite this
@misc{hireling_2026,
title = {hireling},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/hireling},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
