These 120 workplace trivia questions are safe to read out to any team: no religion, politics, health or company names. Sixty are about work and sixty are general. As trivia questions for work meetings, they come with answers and sources in rounds of ten.
A meeting opener or a 30-minute quiz
For an opener, share your screen, choose a Topic and press Scored round, then Start the round: 10 questions, scored at the end. For a 30-minute quiz, choose a topic such as General round: food and press Print question sheet, then Print answer key. Each sheet holds 10 questions. Plan on three rounds: read them out, let teams keep their own score on paper, and read the key after each round.
What the nine topics ask
Office inventions (20 questions) has the paper clip and the revolving door. Where work words come from (20) traces salary, deadline and tycoon. Work customs around the world (20) goes from fika to Mumbai's lunch carriers. Six general rounds of 10 follow.
Tips
Mix teams across departments. The general rounds need no job knowledge, so no desk has an edge.
For icebreaker trivia questions with new starters, choose Where work words come from. Six of its 20 are easy and every answer tells a story.
Settle a tie with one hard question. The words and customs topics hold six each.
Questions and answers
Are these questions safe for any workplace?
Yes. Nothing asks about religion, politics, bodies, health, age or alcohol, and no company, brand or living person is named. The general rounds need no particular schooling, country or sport to score.
How do I use these as team building quiz questions?
Split into teams of three to five and print three rounds with their answer keys. One person reads, teams write answers on paper, then swap sheets to mark. The trivia score sheet keeps the totals.
How hard are the questions?
We mark 35 easy, 54 medium and 31 hard, our estimate for a mixed table of adult colleagues. Every question has four choices, so a team can reason its way toward an answer.
Can people play on their own?
Yes. As fun quiz questions for employees to try alone, the page opens with a question ready. Tap a choice and press Check answer to see the explanation and its source.
Where do the answers come from?
Each answer was read on September 20, 2026 in the Wikipedia article or Wiktionary entry linked under it. Two clock and calendar questions are arithmetic. Pay figures and anything that changes by year are left out.
All About Me Questionnaires to Print3 tools: An all about me sheet is a page of questions that one person answers in their own handwriting, then hands…
A Gantt chart, designed by Henry Gantt around 1910 to 1915, is a bar chart that shows what?Answer: A project schedule. Source: Wikipedia: Gantt chart
A sheet of A0 paper is defined so that it has which area?Answer: One square meter. Source: Wikipedia: ISO 216
Before the rubber eraser went on sale in 1770, which food did people use to rub out pencil marks?Answer: Crustless bread. Source: Wikipedia: Eraser
The Caps Lock key began as which feature of mechanical typewriters?Answer: The shift lock. Source: Wikipedia: Caps Lock
Edwin Moore patented which noticeboard item in the United States in 1900?Answer: The push-pin. Source: Wikipedia: Drawing pin
The first modern vending machines appeared in England in the early 1880s. What did they sell?Answer: Postcards. Source: Wikipedia: Vending machine
In 1795 Nicolas-Jacques Conté found a way to make pencil cores by mixing powdered graphite with what?Answer: Clay. Source: Wikipedia: Pencil
In 1843 Alexander Bain patented an 'electric printing telegraph', an ancestor of which office machine?Answer: The fax machine. Source: Wikipedia: Fax
In 1971 Ray Tomlinson wrote the first email program for a network of computers. Which sign did he pick to split a user's name from the machine's name?Answer: The @ sign. Source: Wikipedia: Ray Tomlinson
In Isaac Pitman's shorthand, first presented in 1837, what do the symbols stand for?Answer: Sounds. Source: Wikipedia: Pitman shorthand
Johan Vaaler, long credited in his home country with inventing the paper clip, came from where?Answer: Norway. Source: Wikipedia: Paper clip
Letter paper, the usual office sheet in the United States and Canada, measures 8.5 inches by how many?Answer: 11. Source: Wikipedia: Letter (paper size)
Manila folders take their name from Manila hemp, a fiber named for the capital of which country?Answer: The Philippines. Source: Wikipedia: Manila folder
One of the first correction fluids was invented in 1956 by Bette Nesmith Graham. What was her job?Answer: Secretary. Source: Wikipedia: Correction fluid
Pneumatic tubes once carried papers around large offices. What pushes the canister through the tube?Answer: Compressed air or a partial vacuum. Source: Wikipedia: Pneumatic tube
Theophilus Van Kannel's 1888 patent called his invention a 'storm-door structure'. What do we call it now?Answer: The revolving door. Source: Wikipedia: Revolving door
Who built an early swivel chair in 1775?Answer: Thomas Jefferson. Source: Wikipedia: Swivel chair
Who gave the first public demonstration of a mouse controlling a computer, in 1968?Answer: Douglas Engelbart. Source: Wikipedia: Computer mouse
Willard Bundy invented the employee time clock in Auburn, New York, in 1888. What was his trade?Answer: Jeweler. Source: Wikipedia: Time clock
Xerography is the process inside a photocopier. Its name is built from Greek words that mean what?Answer: Dry writing. Source: Wikipedia: Xerography
Where work words come from 20
A lawyer who works pro bono charges no fee. The full Latin phrase, pro bono publico, means what?Answer: For the public good. Source: Wiktionary: pro bono
A new starter has to 'learn the ropes'. Which workplace gave us the saying?Answer: A sailing ship. Source: Wiktionary: learn the ropes
According to the Peter principle, set out in a 1969 book, people in a hierarchy tend to rise until they reach what?Answer: A job they cannot do well. Source: Wikipedia: Peter principle
Bankrupt copies the Italian bancarotta. What does bancarotta mean, word for word?Answer: A broken bench. Source: Wiktionary: bankrupt
Before a deadline was a due date, American usage gave the word to a boundary in which kind of place?Answer: A prison. Source: Wiktionary: deadline
Bureau is French for desk or office. What did the word name before that?Answer: The coarse cloth that covered a desk. Source: Wiktionary: bureau
Companion, the root of the word company, is built from the Latin for 'with' and the Latin for which food?Answer: Bread. Source: Wiktionary: companion
Curriculum vitae, or CV, is Latin. What does it mean?Answer: The course of a life. Source: Wiktionary: curriculum vitae
In 1704 the playwright John Dennis complained that a rival show had taken his new sound effect. Which saying did he give us?Answer: To steal someone's thunder. Source: Wiktionary: steal someone's thunder
In a craft guild, what was a 'masterpiece'?Answer: The work an apprentice made to qualify as a master. Source: Wikipedia: Masterpiece
The Medieval Latin secretarius gave English the word secretary. What did it mean?Answer: One entrusted with secrets. Source: Wiktionary: secretary
The name ampersand, for the & sign, is a worn-down form of which phrase?Answer: And per se and. Source: Wikipedia: Ampersand
Negotiate comes from the Latin negotium, business. Negotium is built from words that mean what?Answer: Not leisure. Source: Wiktionary: negotiate
Parkinson's law began as a joke in a 1955 essay. What does it say work does?Answer: Expands to fill the time available. Source: Wikipedia: Parkinson's law
Recorded in English since 1432, the word budget first meant what?Answer: A leather pouch. Source: Wiktionary: budget
To be 'in the limelight' is to have everyone's attention. What was a limelight?Answer: A stage lamp that heated a block of lime. Source: Wikipedia: Limelight
Tycoon entered English in 1857. It comes from taikun, a Japanese title that means what?Answer: Great lord. Source: Wikipedia: Tycoon
The verb manage comes from an Old French word for handling and training which animal?Answer: The horse. Source: Wiktionary: manage
Walter Scott coined the word freelance in his 1819 novel Ivanhoe. What was a free lance?Answer: A medieval mercenary soldier. Source: Wiktionary: freelance
The word salary goes back to the Latin sal. What is sal?Answer: Salt. Source: Wiktionary: salary
Work customs around the world 20
Administrative Professionals Day in the United States falls in the last full week of April. What was the day called before?Answer: Secretaries Day. Source: Wikipedia: Administrative Professionals Day
Casual Friday grew out of Aloha Friday, a mid-century custom from where?Answer: Hawaii. Source: Wikipedia: Casual Friday
Ferragosto is the mid-August holiday when much of Italy stops work. Its name goes back to the festival of which Roman emperor?Answer: Augustus. Source: Wikipedia: Ferragosto
Fika, the Swedish break for coffee and a pastry with workmates, gets its name from what?Answer: The Swedish word for coffee, turned back to front. Source: Wikipedia: Fika (Sweden)
In a Japanese meeting room the kamiza, the seat of honor, is usually in which spot?Answer: Furthest from the door. Source: Wikipedia: Kamiza
In Britain, a short mid-morning break for a drink and a snack is named after the time it is taken. What is it called?Answer: Elevenses. Source: Wikipedia: Elevenses
In Japan, a sarariman, or salaryman, is what?Answer: A salaried office worker. Source: Wikipedia: Salaryman
In Japan, how should you take a business card, or meishi, when it is offered to you?Answer: With both hands. Source: Wikipedia: Meishi
In Japan, what is omiyage?Answer: Gifts a traveler brings back for family and colleagues. Source: Wikipedia: Omiyage
In many countries employees receive a 'thirteenth salary'. When is it usually paid?Answer: At the end of December. Source: Wikipedia: Thirteenth salary
In Mumbai, what does a dabbawala deliver to people at work?Answer: Hot lunches. Source: Wikipedia: Dabbawala
The Japanese word inemuri names a nap taken in a meeting or a class. What does inemuri mean, word for word?Answer: Present while sleeping. Source: Wikipedia: Sleeping while on duty
Jugaad is a South Asian word that office workers use for which kind of fix?Answer: A clever improvised workaround. Source: Wikipedia: Jugaad
Long service leave is extra paid leave for employees who have stayed with an employer for many years. Which country is it peculiar to?Answer: Australia. Source: Wikipedia: Long service leave
Many tall office buildings in the United States have no floor with which number on the elevator panel?Answer: 13. Source: Wikipedia: Thirteenth floor
Nemawashi is the Japanese habit of quietly winning people over before a formal decision. The word comes from which task?Answer: Preparing a tree to be moved. Source: Wikipedia: Nemawashi
The phrase 'hot desking' is thought to come from hot racking. Who shares what in hot racking?Answer: Sailors on different shifts share bunks. Source: Wikipedia: Hot desking
Rajio taiso, the warm-up exercises many Japanese workplaces do to a radio broadcast, began in which country?Answer: The United States. Source: Wikipedia: Radio calisthenics
Stoughton, Wisconsin, holds a festival each year as the supposed birthplace of which workday custom?Answer: The coffee break. Source: Wikipedia: Coffee break
The tea lady, who brought a trolley of hot tea round an office or factory, became a fixture in Britain during which event?Answer: The Second World War. Source: Wikipedia: Tea lady
General round: places 10
The Andes run from south to north through how many South American countries?Answer: Seven. Source: Wikipedia: Andes
Counting its overseas territories, which country uses the most time zones, 12 in all?Answer: France. Source: Wikipedia: Time in France
The Danube rises in Germany's Black Forest and passes through or touches 10 countries. Into which sea does it empty?Answer: The Black Sea. Source: Wikipedia: Danube
Sagarmatha is the Nepali name of which mountain?Answer: Mount Everest. Source: Wikipedia: Mount Everest
Which body of water, bounded by five countries, is the largest inland body of water in the world?Answer: The Caspian Sea. Source: Wikipedia: Caspian Sea
Which continent is crossed by both the equator and the prime meridian?Answer: Africa. Source: Wikipedia: Africa
Which is the largest country in the world that has no coast on an ocean?Answer: Kazakhstan. Source: Wikipedia: Landlocked country
Which lake, at 25 to 30 million years old, is the oldest lake in the world?Answer: Lake Baikal. Source: Wikipedia: Lake Baikal
Which of these canals was built with no locks, so that seawater flows freely along it?Answer: The Suez Canal. Source: Wikipedia: Suez Canal
The world's longest international land border lies between which two countries?Answer: Canada and the United States. Source: Wikipedia: Canada
General round: science 10
After nitrogen and oxygen, which gas is the third most abundant in Earth's atmosphere?Answer: Argon. Source: Wikipedia: Argon
How many chemical elements fill the seven rows of the periodic table?Answer: 118. Source: Wikipedia: Periodic table
The Kármán line is a widely used boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space. How high does the world air sports federation set it?Answer: 100 kilometers. Source: Wikipedia: Kármán line
The Mohs scale runs from 1 to 10. What does it rank minerals by?Answer: How well they resist scratching. Source: Wikipedia: Mohs scale
The name of the supercontinent Pangaea is built from two Ancient Greek words. What do they mean?Answer: All the land. Source: Wikipedia: Pangaea
On which temperature scale is absolute zero written as 0?Answer: Kelvin. Source: Wikipedia: Kelvin
What makes the sound of thunder?Answer: Air that lightning heats so fast it expands as a shock wave. Source: Wikipedia: Lightning
Which planet has been called both the morning star and the evening star?Answer: Venus. Source: Wikipedia: Venus
Which planet has nearly two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in the Solar System combined?Answer: Jupiter. Source: Wikipedia: Jupiter
You are looking straight at a rainbow made by sunlight. Where is the Sun?Answer: Behind you. Source: Wikipedia: Rainbow
General round: food 10
Ciabatta bread was first made in Italy in 1982. What does the word ciabatta mean in Italian?Answer: Slipper. Source: Wikipedia: Ciabatta
Edamame are served boiled or steamed in the pod. They are the young beans of which plant?Answer: The soybean. Source: Wikipedia: Edamame
Empanada comes from the Spanish verb empanar. What does the verb mean?Answer: To coat or wrap in bread. Source: Wikipedia: Empanada
Jollof rice, cooked with tomatoes, onions and chili peppers, is a dish from which part of the world?Answer: West Africa. Source: Wikipedia: Jollof rice
The name of the Italian almond biscuits called biscotti goes back to a medieval Latin word. What does it mean?Answer: Twice cooked. Source: Wikipedia: Biscotti
Pierogi are stuffed, boiled dumplings from which country?Answer: Poland. Source: Wikipedia: Pierogi
Strudel is a German word. What did it mean long before it named a pastry?Answer: Whirlpool. Source: Wikipedia: Strudel
Turmeric, the powder that colors many curries yellow, comes from a plant in the same family as which other spice?Answer: Ginger. Source: Wikipedia: Turmeric
Tzatziki is a cold dip made from strained yogurt, garlic and which vegetable?Answer: Cucumber. Source: Wikipedia: Tzatziki
Which thorn-covered fruit, known in some regions as the king of fruits, is banned by some hotels in Southeast Asia because of its smell?Answer: Durian. Source: Wikipedia: Durian
General round: language 10
A silhouette, the solid black outline of a face, is named after Étienne de Silhouette. Which post did he hold in 1759?Answer: Finance minister of France. Source: Wiktionary: silhouette
An ombudsman looks into complaints on behalf of the public. From which language did English borrow the word?Answer: Swedish. Source: Wiktionary: ombudsman
Esperanto is named after the pen name its creator used when he published it in 1887. What does the word Esperanto mean?Answer: One who hopes. Source: Wikipedia: Esperanto
In the spelling alphabet that runs Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, which word stands for the letter Q?Answer: Quebec. Source: Wikipedia: NATO phonetic alphabet
Karaoke is a Japanese word made of two parts. What do they mean?Answer: Empty orchestra. Source: Wiktionary: karaoke
Kindergarten is a German word. What does it mean, part for part?Answer: Garden of children. Source: Wiktionary: kindergarten
Safari came into English from Swahili. What does the word mean in Swahili?Answer: Journey. Source: Wiktionary: safari
Tsunami is a Japanese word. What do its two parts, tsu and nami, mean?Answer: Harbor and wave. Source: Wiktionary: tsunami
Which letter turns up most often in written English?Answer: E. Source: Wikipedia: Letter frequency
The word pajamas goes back to two Persian words. What do they mean?Answer: Leg and garment. Source: Wiktionary: pajamas
General round: animals 10
A peacock is a male peafowl. What is the female called?Answer: A peahen. Source: Wikipedia: Peafowl
How many teeth does a giant anteater have?Answer: None. Source: Wikipedia: Giant anteater
Manatees are sometimes known as sea cows. What do they eat?Answer: Plants. Source: Wikipedia: Manatee
The meerkat of southern Africa belongs to which group of animals?Answer: The mongooses. Source: Wikipedia: Meerkat
The quokka, a relative of the kangaroo about the size of a house cat, is native to which country?Answer: Australia. Source: Wikipedia: Quokka
The red panda shares a name and a taste for bamboo with the giant panda. Genetic evidence places it closest to which animals?Answer: Raccoons, weasels and skunks. Source: Wikipedia: Red panda
The tapir looks a little like a pig with a short trunk. Which animals are its closest living relatives?Answer: Horses and rhinoceroses. Source: Wikipedia: Tapir
Which animal is the largest living member of the deer family?Answer: The moose. Source: Wikipedia: Moose
Which word describes an animal that is mainly active in the twilight of dawn and dusk?Answer: Crepuscular. Source: Wikipedia: Crepuscular animal
Wild walruses live in and around which ocean?Answer: The Arctic Ocean. Source: Wikipedia: Walrus
General round: numbers and time 10
A hectare is the area of a square with sides of what length?Answer: 100 meters. Source: Wikipedia: Hectare
A meeting starts at 9:40 and runs for 95 minutes. At what time does it end?Answer: 11:15. Source: Worked out from the numbers in the question
Atomic clocks keep official time. The second is defined by a frequency of which chemical element?Answer: Cesium. Source: Wikipedia: Atomic clock
Gold and silver are weighed in an ounce that is heavier than the everyday ounce. What is it called?Answer: The troy ounce. Source: Wikipedia: Troy weight
How many kilograms are in one metric ton, also spelled tonne?Answer: 1,000. Source: Wikipedia: Tonne
In a year that is not a leap year, January 1 is a Monday. Which day of the week is December 31?Answer: Monday. Source: Worked out from the numbers in the question
One liter of water has a mass of almost exactly how much?Answer: 1 kilogram. Source: Wikipedia: Litre
Why do the hands of a clock turn in the direction they do?Answer: They copy the shadow on a sundial in the Northern Hemisphere. Source: Wikipedia: Clockwise
Why is a second called a second?Answer: It was the second small division of the hour, after the minute. Source: Wikipedia: Minute
Why is Coordinated Universal Time shortened to UTC, which matches its word order in neither English nor French?Answer: It was a compromise so that every language could use the same letters. Source: Wikipedia: Coordinated Universal Time
How this list was compiled
Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Every question, wrong choice and explanation is our own wording. Each answer was checked on 2026-09-20 against the English Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org) or English Wiktionary entry (https://en.wiktionary.org) named and linked beside the question: the page text was fetched that day and the sentence that states the fact was read before the question was kept. Every extra claim in an explanation was checked the same way. Two questions about clock time and the calendar are arithmetic and were checked by working them. The pack has two halves. Sixty questions are about work: office inventions, where work words come from and work customs around the world. Sixty are general, in six rounds of ten (places, science, food, language, animals, numbers and time), chosen so that no team needs a particular schooling, country, age or sport to score. Left out on purpose, so the set is safe to read out at any meeting: religion, politics, bodies and health, age, alcohol, company and brand names, living people, pay and job statistics, and anything that changes by year or by survey. Labor history (strikes, unions, the eight-hour day, how the working week was won) is kept for the Labor Day pack and is not asked here. Inventors and thinkers who are named have died. No question repeats word for word in the site's other grade, crowd, subject or occasion trivia packs as they stood on 2026-09-20, and none is shared with the holiday trivia pack for work; facts those packs already ask (the graphite in a pencil, the pencil eraser patent, the safety elevator, the typewriter keyboard, the ballpoint pen, siesta, robot, emoji, red tape, bento, the smörgåsbord, the second most abundant element) were drafted, found and left out. Levels are our estimate for a mixed table of adult colleagues: easy is common knowledge, hard is for the reader of word histories. Licence: own work