Wageless

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A condition in which no financial payment is received for work performed
2. Characterized by the lack of any monetary reward for services rendered
3. Describing work or a job done without receiving any pay

Etymology: "Wageless" is a plain compound: the noun "wage" with the suffix "-less", meaning "without". The suffix descends from Old English "-lēas", which was itself related to "lēas", meaning "free of" or "lacking", and it has been attached to nouns for centuries to mean "without" the thing named. English has many such pairs, such as "hopeless" and "careless", so "wageless" follows a pattern that was productive long before this word appeared. The noun it builds on has its own journey. "Wage" came into Middle English from Old Northern French "wage", a form of the verb "gage", meaning a pledge or security. In that older sense, a wage was something handed over to guarantee a promise, and only later did it come to mean payment for work. So "wageless" literally describes labour with no pledge or payment attached to it.

Synonyms: unpaid, uncompensated

Antonyms: paid, compensated