forced labor

forced labor

English

Alternative forms

• forced labour

Noun

forced labor (uncountable)

1. (American spelling) Work which one is compelled to perform against one's will, especially in a condition of involuntary servitude as a prisoner or slave.

   Hyponyms: hard labor, unfree labor

   • 1839, Robert FitzRoy; Phillip Parker King; Charles Darwin, chapter 19, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 228675426:

     The power which the government possesses, by means of forced labour, of at once opening good roads throughout the country, has been, I believe, one main cause of the early prosperity of this colony.

   • 2007, David Lague, "China Tries to Contain Scandal Over Slave Labor With Arrests and Apology," New York Times, 23 June,

     The outcry over forced labor is a serious blow to the ruling Communist Party.

Translations

work which one is compelled to perform

Chinese: Mandarin: 苦役 (zh) (kǔyì), 勞役／劳役 (zh) (láoyì), 懲役／惩役 (zh) (chéngyì) Danish: tvangsarbejde n Dutch: dwangarbeid (nl) m Finnish: pakkotyö (fi) French: travail forcé m German: Zwangsarbeit (de) f Greek: καταναγκαστική εργασία f (katanagkastikí ergasía) Italian: lavoro forzato m Japanese: 懲役 (ja) (ちょうえき, chōeki) Persian: بیگاری‎ (fa) (bigâri) Polish: praca przymusowa f Portuguese: trabalho forçado m Romanian: muncă silnică (ro) f Russian: ка́торга (ru) f (kátorga), ка́торжные рабо́ты f pl (kátoržnyje rabóty), принуди́тельные рабо́ты (ru) f pl (prinudítelʹnyje rabóty) Spanish: trabajo forzado m Swedish: tvångsarbete (sv) n Tibetan: བཀོལ་སྤྱོད (bkol spyod) Uyghur: مەجبۇرىي ئەمگەك‎ (mejburiy emgek) Volapük: mütavob

References

• "forced labor" in Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition] © & (P)2007 Microsoft Corporation.
• "forced labor" in Deardorff's Glossary of International Economics © Alan V. Deardorff, 2000, 2001.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989. See "forced."