Backbreaking describes work that is extremely hard and exhausting, the kind that makes your whole body ache. The word comes from labor so physically demanding it feels like it might break your back: lifting heavy stones to build a wall, digging ditches in hard ground all day, or hauling water buckets up a steep hill.

Before modern machinery, most heavy work was backbreaking. Farmers plowed fields by hand, construction workers moved massive stones without cranes, and miners dug coal with picks and shovels. Today we still use the word for any task requiring tremendous physical effort, like moving all the furniture out of a house or shoveling snow from a long driveway after a blizzard.

The word can also describe work that's mentally or emotionally exhausting. A student might face backbreaking preparation for a major competition, or a small business owner might put in backbreaking hours to get their company started. In these cases, backbreaking suggests the work demands everything you have, pushing you to your limits even if you're not literally hurting your back.