task

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A piece of work that you have to do.

   Washing the dishes is my least favourite daily task.

2. 2
   noun

   A difficult or tiring job.

   Cleaning the whole house in one day was quite a task.

3. 3
   verb

   To give someone a job or duty to do.

   On my first day, I was tasked with sorting a huge pile of papers.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Task entered English in the Middle Ages and, like tax, ultimately comes from Latin taxare, “censure, charge, compute.” Its earliest sense was “impose a tax on”; the familiar meaning “something that has to be done” appeared in the late 16th century.

From Middle English taske (“task, tax”), from Old Northern French tasque, (compare Old French variant tasche), from Medieval Latin tasca, alteration of taxa, from Latin taxō (“to censure; to charge”). Doublet of tax.

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External links

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