Office

Office

Noun · /ˈɒf.ɪs/

Definition

A room, set of rooms, or building used for professional or administrative work; the staff working in such a space; a position of authority, trust, or service — especially public or governmental office; a duty or function; a ceremony or ritual service (divine office, the office of the dead); (informal) useful information passed in secret — give someone the office.

Origin

From Old French office and Latin officium (duty, service, function, obligation), from opus (work) + facere (to do, to make) — literally the doing of work, the performance of duty. The same root as official, officer, officious, and the suffix -fice in artifice, edifice, and benefice. The Latin officium in Roman law and social ethics being a rich concept covering one's obligations to family, friends, society, and the state — a complex web of reciprocal duties. The architectural sense (a room where official business is transacted) developing from the duty sense in medieval Latin and Old French.