Baker

How to spell baker

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce baker

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does baker mean?

1. nounA person whose job is making and selling bread, cakes, and pastries.

Baker in a sentence

• The baker arrives before dawn to start the ovens.

• Our local baker sells fresh sourdough every morning.

Where does baker come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word comes straight from the native English stock, built on the verb 'bake', which in Old English was 'bacan', meaning 'to cook by dry heat in an oven'. To that verb English added the agent suffix '-er', the same ending that turns 'teach' into 'teacher' and 'write' into 'writer', producing a noun for the person whose trade is baking bread. The form has been in continuous use since well before the Norman Conquest, and it was common enough as an occupation that it became one of the most widespread English surnames. Its Germanic roots are shared with the modern German 'backen' and Dutch 'bakken', both still meaning 'to bake'. Because the spelling simply joins a familiar verb to a familiar suffix, it holds few surprises beyond remembering the single 'k'.

How the word is built

• bak- (from Old English bacan: to bake)
• -er (agent suffix: one who does)