Short for temporary worker or employee hired for a limited period. Can also refer to temperature informally.
Shortened from 'temporary,' which comes from Latin temporarius meaning 'of time' or 'lasting for a time.' The employment sense emerged in the mid-20th century with the rise of flexible labor markets.
The word 'temp' perfectly captures modern economic anxiety - it reduces the complex human experience of uncertain employment to a crisp, impersonal syllable that sounds almost dismissive.
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