means Effort directed toward making, doing, or accomplishing something — and, by extension, the job you do for a living.

from An ancient word, rooted in Old English 'weorc' and shared across the Germanic family (German 'Werk,' Dutch 'werk'). It traces back further to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to do' or 'to make' — the same deep source that gives Greek 'ergon' (deed) and surfaces in words like 'energy' and 'organ.' So when you go to work, you're echoing a verb that humans have been using to describe their labor for thousands of years.