# office

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɒf.ɪs/ · frequency rank #389

## Definitions
1. A ceremonial duty or service, particularly
2. A ceremonial duty or service
3. A ceremonial duty or service
4. A ceremonial duty or service
5. A ceremonial duty or service
6. A ceremonial duty or service
7. A ceremonial duty or service
8. A ceremonial duty or service
9. A position of responsibility.
10. Official position, particularly high employment within government; tenure in such a position.
11. A duty, particularly owing to one's position or station; a charge, trust, or role; (obsolete, rare) moral duty.
12. Function: anything typically done by or expected of something.
13. A service, a kindness.
14. Inside information.
15. A room, set of rooms, or building used for non-manual work, particularly
16. A room, set of rooms, or building used for non-manual work
17. A room, set of rooms, or building used for non-manual work
18. A room, set of rooms, or building used for non-manual work
19. The staff of such places.
20. The administrative departments housed in such places, particularly
21. The administrative departments housed in such places
22. The administrative departments housed in such places
23. The administrative departments housed in such places
24. The parts of a house or estate devoted to manual work and storage, as the kitchen, scullery, laundry, stables, etc., particularly (euphemistic, dated) a house or estate's facilities for urination and defecation: outhouses or lavatories.
25. Clipping of inquest of office
26. A piece of land used for hunting; the area of land overseen by a gamekeeper.
27. A hangout: a place where one is normally found.
28. A plane's cockpit, particularly an observer's cockpit.
29. A collection of business software typically including a word processor and spreadsheet and slideshow programs.
30. An official or group of officials; (figuratively) a personification of officeholders.
31. A bodily function, (particularly) urination and defecation; an act of urination or defecation.
32. The performance of a duty; an instance of performing a duty.

## Etymology
From Middle English office, from Old French office, from Latin officium (“personal, official, or moral duty; official position; function; ceremony, esp. last rites”), contracted from opificium (“construction: the act of building or the thing built”), from opifex (“doer of work, craftsman”) + -ium (“-y”, forming actions), from op- (“work”) + -i- (connective) + -fex (combining form of faciō (“to do, to make”)).
The computing sense is a genericization of various proprietary program suites, such as Microsoft Office.

## Easily confused with
- **offing** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/office-vs-offing)
- **officer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/office-vs-officer)
- **offices** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/office-vs-offices)
- **offline** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/office-vs-offline)
- **offside** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/office-vs-offside)
- **orifice** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/office-vs-orifice)
- **officers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/office-vs-officers)

## Common misspellings (6)
`fofice`, `offcie`, `officce`, `offiec`, `ofice`, `ofifce`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/office