# piece of work

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. A product or manufactured article, especially an item of art or craft.
2. A person who has a strong and unusual personality, especially one with seriously unpleasant character flaws.

## Etymology
First use appears c. 1473. The idiomatic second sense came about due to Hamlet’s monologue. See cite from sense 1 below.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-09-03.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/piece-of-work