## AI Etymology
Workless comes from work + -less, from Old English weorc ('work, deed') + -lēas ('without'). In current use it is an adjective meaning "without work; unemployed". That sense is explained by the older material without requiring a speculative semantic step: the inherited or borrowed base supplies the field of meaning, while the English formation fixes its modern role. The suffix -less marks lack, absence, or deprivation. The surface form is compositional: its joined elements remain visible in the modern word. The historical chain includes Old English weorc and Proto-Indo-European *werǵom. Related English forms include work, worker, and workable. A derived form is worklessness. As a result, the modern word is best read as a negative, privative, or reversative formation built on a historically older base.

## Topics
- Work & Careers
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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