Travel and Travail Are the Same Word
To travel is to go from place to place. The word is identical with travail, meaning painful labour, because journeys used to be an ordeal.
To travel is to go from one place to another. The word is the same as *travail*, hard and painful labour, and the older sense is the honest one: a journey in the fourteenth century meant discomfort, expense and real danger. *Travail* itself may go back to Latin *trepalium*, a three-staked instrument of torture, though that link is disputed.
- To journey. *They travel by train.*
- Noun, journeying. *Air travel.*
- To move or spread. *Sound travels slowly through air.*
- Travail — painful effort. *After much travail.*
- Travelled — experienced. *A well-travelled colleague.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | travel | Travel light. |
| Past (British) | travelled | We travelled far. |
| Past (American) | traveled | They traveled west. |
| Agent | traveller | A weary traveller. |
| Doublet | travail | Endless travail. |
- They travelled overnight to avoid the heat.British spelling doubles the l.
- News travels fast.Figurative movement.
- The travails of the last year.The painful sense.
One l or two?
- British — travelled, travelling, traveller
- American — traveled, traveling, traveler
- The rule — British doubles a final l before a vowel ending regardless of stress
- Same split — cancelled and canceled, modelling and modeling
- Both are correct within their own conventions
Middle English *travailen*, to toil or journey, from Old French *travailler*. The two senses split in spelling, with *travel* taking the journey and *travail* the labour.
Is travel really related to torture?
The link runs through travail, painful labour. The further connection to a Latin instrument of torture is often repeated but not certain.
Is it travelling or traveling?
Travelling in British English, traveling in American. Both are standard in their own varieties.