carpenter
See also: Carpenter
English
Etymology
From Middle English carpenter, from Anglo-Norman carpenter (compare Old French charpentier), from Late Latin carpentārius (“a carpenter”), from Latin carpentārius (“a wagon-maker, carriage-maker”), from Latin carpentum (“a two-wheeled carriage, coach, or chariot, a cart”), from Gaulish carbantos, from Proto-Celtic *karbantos (“chariot, war chariot”), probably related to Proto-Celtic *karros (“wagon”). More at car.
Displaced native Old English trēowwyrhta (literally “tree worker”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkɑː.pən.tə/
Audio (UK) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkɑɹpəntɚ/
- Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)pəntə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: car‧pen‧ter
Noun
carpenter (plural carpenters)
- A person skilled at carpentry, the trade of cutting and joining timber in order to construct buildings or other structures.
- (nautical) A senior rating in ships responsible for all the woodwork onboard; in the days of sail, a warrant officer responsible for the hull, masts, spars and boats of a ship, and whose responsibility was to sound the well to see if the ship was making water.
- A two-wheeled carriage.
- (zoology) A carpenter bee.
- 1968, Elliot C. G. Pinhey, Introduction to insect study in Africa (page 146)
- The large, stout African bees are carpenters (Xylocopa), making small tunnels in timber, housing few individuals.
- 1968, Elliot C. G. Pinhey, Introduction to insect study in Africa (page 146)
- (Canada, Britain, regional) A woodlouse.
- 2015, A.D. Barber, “Vernacular names of woodlice with particular reference to Devonshire”, in Bulletin of the British Myriapod & Isopod Group, page 58:
- Eleven names in Laver’s table (just over 6%) are of the “carpenter” type, a name for woodlice also recorded in Shropshire and Warwickshire. […] Apparently a Newfoundland word for woodlouse is “carpenter” or “cafner” (another is also “boat-builder”). These names clearly relate to the animals’ affinity to wood as will “carpenter’s flea”, “wood-pig”, “wood-bug”, “grampus wood-bug” and, of course “woodlouse”.
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Synonyms
- (person skilled at carpentry): joiner, chippy, timberwright, treewright, woodworker, woodwright
Derived terms
- carpent
- carpenter ant
- carpenter bee
- carpentering
- carpenter's pencil
- carpenter's square
Related terms
- carpentry (noun)
- The Carpenter (jocular: Jesus Christ)
- carpent, carpenting (nonstandard)
Translations
one who practices carpentry
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nautical: person responsible for all the woodwork onboard
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Verb
carpenter (third-person singular simple present carpenters, present participle carpentering, simple past and past participle carpentered)
- To work as a carpenter, cutting and joining timber.
- Synonym: (rare) carpent
Further reading
- carpenter in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- carpenter in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
- carpenter at OneLook Dictionary Search
Middle English
Alternative forms
- cappenter, carpentar, carpenteer, carpentour, carpintier, carpunter
Etymology
Borrowed from Anglo-Norman carpenter (compare Old French charpentier), from Late Latin carpentārius.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /karpɛnˈteːr/, /ˈkarpɛntər/
Noun
carpenter (plural carpenteres)
- carpenter
Related terms
- carpentrie
Descendants
- English: carpenter
- Scots: carpenter
References
- “carpentē̆r, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Old French
Noun
carpenter m (oblique plural carpenters, nominative singular carpenters, nominative plural carpenter)
- Alternative form of charpantier
- circa 1155, Wace, Le Roman de Brut:
- Maçons fist querre et carpenters
Si fist refaire les mousters- He searched for masons and carpenters
in order to rebuild the minsters.
- He searched for masons and carpenters
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