Builder

How to spell builder

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce builder

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does builder mean?

1. nounA person or company whose trade is constructing houses and other buildings.

Builder in a sentence

• The builder quoted a fair price for the extension.

• We hired a local builder to renovate the kitchen.

Where does builder come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Builder is simply the doer form of the verb build, which descends from the Old English verb byldan, meaning 'to construct a dwelling'. That verb was itself formed from the noun bold or botl, an Anglo-Saxon word for a house or dwelling place, so at its heart the word is about making somewhere to live. The unusual 'ui' spelling is the real trap: the word is pronounced as if it were 'bilder', yet that silent-looking u has clung on since Middle English scribal habits, where it was sometimes inserted after b, g and similar letters. The agent suffix -er, added to mark a person who performs an action, is the same one that turns bake into baker and teach into teacher. Builder has carried its plain practical meaning, a person who constructs houses and other structures, steadily since the late medieval period.

How the word is built

• build (from Old English byldan: to construct a dwelling)
• -er (agent suffix: one who does)