labor

Compared meaning: hard physical work (noun).

比较义项：艰苦的体力劳动（名词）。

• labor 本词

  Labor is the more common, neutral word for hard physical work, often used in practical contexts like farming or construction, without necessarily implying exhaustion or a long duration.

  labor 是更常见、中性的说法，指艰苦的体力劳动，常用于农业、建筑等实际语境，不一定强调疲惫或劳动持续时间长。

  The harvest demanded hours of hard labor from every worker on the farm.

  收获季节需要农场里每个工人付出数小时的艰苦劳动。

• toil

  Toil emphasizes exhausting, prolonged work that wears a person down over time, with a more formal or literary tone, often describing daily grind or long-term hardship.

  toil 强调令人筋疲力尽、持续时间长的艰苦劳作，语气更正式或偏文学化，常用于描述日复一日的辛苦劳作或长期的艰辛。

  Years of toil in the fields left the farmers utterly exhausted.

  多年在田间的辛苦劳作让农民们疲惫不堪。

Both mean hard physical work. Labor is the common, neutral word, often for practical work like farming. Toil stresses long, tiring work that wears someone out, with formal or literary tone. This does not cover labor as childbirth or workers, nor toil as a verb.

这两个词都指艰苦的劳动，但语气和使用场合略有不同：labor 是较为中性、常用的说法，强调体力劳动本身；toil 更强调长时间、令人疲惫的辛苦劳作，语气更正式或偏文学化。这里不比较 labor 的“分娩”或“劳动力”等其他义项，也不比较 toil 作动词“辛苦劳作”的用法。

Compared meaning: childbirth (noun).

比较义项：分娩（名词）。

• labor 本词

  The everyday medical term for the physical process of giving birth, especially the contractions and delivery; appears in set phrases such as 'in labor' and 'labor pains'.

  分娩这一过程的日常医学用语，尤指宫缩和生产本身；常见于固定搭配，如“in labor”（临产中）和“labor pains”（阵痛）。

  She was in labor for nearly ten hours before the baby was born.

  她临产将近十个小时，孩子才出生。

• confinement

  An old-fashioned or literary word for the period of time around childbirth, before and after delivery; rarely used in modern medical speech.

  一个较为老式或文学化的说法，指分娩前后的这段时期；现代医学口语中很少使用。

  In earlier times, women often spent their confinement resting quietly at home.

  在从前，产妇常常在产期安静地在家休养。

Both can mean childbirth. Labor is the everyday medical term for the process of giving birth, as in 'in labor'. Confinement is an old-fashioned, literary word for the time around childbirth, rarely used today. This does not cover labor meaning work, or confinement meaning imprisonment.

这两个词都能指分娩，但语域和侧重点不同：labor 是常见的日常医学用语，强调分娩这一生理过程本身；confinement 是较为老式或文学化的说法，泛指分娩前后的这段时期，现代医学口语中很少使用。这里不比较 labor 的“劳动、劳工”义，也不比较 confinement 的“监禁、局限”义。