drudge

American  

[druhj] / drʌdʒ /

noun

1. a person who does menial, distasteful, dull, or hard work.

2. a person who works in a routine, unimaginative way.

---

verb (used without object)

drudged, drudging

1. to perform menial, distasteful, dull, or hard work.

   Synonyms:

   slave, plod, grub, hack, toil

drudge British  

/ drʌdʒ /

noun

1. a person, such as a servant, who works hard at wearisome menial tasks

---

verb

1. (intr) to toil at such tasks

Other Word Forms

• drudger noun
• drudgingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of drudge

1485–95; compare OE man's name Drycghelm helmet maker, equivalent to drycg (akin to drēogan to work) + helm helm ²

Explanation

A drudge is someone who works very hard, especially at a job that is boring. To drudge is to work hard. One thing just about everyone has in common is complaining about work. Drudges have a little more to complain about than others: a drudge is someone whose job is difficult but isn't very interesting. Factories and coal mines are full of drudges: diligent folks doing work that isn't super-interesting. Such work is often called drudgery. Also, when you're working hard at anything, you can call it drudging. We all drudge when we have something to do that we would rather avoid.

Example Sentences

Instead of Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren playing picture-perfect Mitch and Melanie, the original presents Nat Hocken, a disabled war veteran who works as a farm laborer, and whose wife remains a nameless domestic drudge.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 24, 2025

“It takes away the drudge work,” he said.

From New York Times • May 1, 2023

Maybe the AI language generator ChatGPT will free you from written drudge work.

From Washington Post • Jan. 3, 2023

It’s a Cinderella story, minus everything but the drudge and the stepmother.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 12, 2021

I sat silent, recalling what a drudge she had been until Mr. Wopsle’s great-aunt successfully overcame that bad habit of living, so highly desirable to be got rid of by some people.

From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens