Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of oficisto
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Translation

office worker, clerk; official

Word origin

A home-made word, not a borrowing: ofico, a post or duty, plus the professional suffix -ist-. The root itself comes from Latin officium, service or duty, which is also the ancestor of English office and officer.

Origin
Esperanto build on a Latin root
Root
ofico + -ist-
English cognates
office, official, officer

Examples

.

The clerk at the bank was very polite.

.

She works as an office worker in a big office.

.

Many office workers work in that building.

Three words share the root and they are worth separating. is the post you hold, the office in the sense of a duty; is the room you hold it in, with -- for a place; is the person, with -- for the one who does it professionally. English collapses two of those into the single word "office" and then has to say "office worker" to get the third, so the Esperanto set is the clearer one. Note that -- here means a salaried functionary rather than a craft: an sits at a desk, while trades and teaches. If you want the word for a senior state official, o or o is closer than .

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Esperanto · Free printables

oficisto: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "oficisto" (office worker, clerk; official): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 36.