travail

 
Pronunciation: /ˈtraveɪl/
literary

noun

[mass noun] (also travails)
  • painful or laborious effort: advice for those who wish to save great sorrow and travail
  • labour pains: a woman in travail

verb

[no object]
  • engage in painful or laborious effort: creation may travail in pain but it cannot escape its destiny
  • (of a woman) be in labour.

Origin:

Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin trepalium 'instrument of torture', from Latin tres 'three' + palus 'stake'