travail

Travail is a French noun meaning work or labor, and is used to refer to the activity of producing goods or services as well as the exertion involved. It can denote paid employment, unpaid domestic labor, intellectual effort, or any systematic activity aimed at achieving a result. The related verb is travailler, meaning to work. The term’s etymology traces back to Old French travailler, from Latin tripaliare, meaning to torture or torment, reflecting historic associations of toil with labor.

In economics, travail is treated as a factor of production alongside capital and land. It can be categorized as salarié (wage labor), indépendant (self-employment), agricole, artisanal, or domestique. Output is measured in terms of hours or productivity, and wages or salaries are the compensation for labor.

Social and legal dimensions include working conditions, safety, and rights negotiated through collective bargaining. In France, the Code du travail governs such matters and has undergone reforms, including the late-20th-century adoption of a 35-hour workweek and ongoing debates about labor flexibility and social protection.

In physics, travail is also the French term for work, defined as the transfer of energy to an object when a force causes displacement. It is calculated as the integral of force along the path of motion and is measured in joules.

See also: labor, employment, code du travail, economics, physics.