industrious adj.

late 15c., "cleverness, skill," from Old French industrie "activity; aptitude, experience" (14c.) or directly from Latin industria "diligence, activity, zeal," noun use of fem. of industrius "active, diligent," from early Latin indostruus "diligent," from indu "in, within" (from PIE *endo-, extended form of root *en "in") + stem of struere "to build" (from PIE root *stere- "to spread"). The meaning "habitual diligence, effort" is from 1530s; that of "systematic work" is from 1610s. The sense "a particular trade or manufacture" is first recorded 1560s.

1774, "resulting from labor," from French industriel, from Medieval Latin industrialis, from Latin industria "diligence, activity" (see industry). There is an isolated earlier used in the same sense from 1580s, from Latin industria.

The main modern meaning "pertaining to the manufacture of commodities, connected with the application of industry to manufactures" is from 1830, from a sense in French.

Meaning "suitable for industrial use" is from 1904. As a style of dance music, attested from 1988. Industrial revolution was in use by 1840 to refer to what were then recent developments and changes in England and elsewhere.