Craftsman

How to spell craftsman

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce craftsman

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does craftsman mean?

1. nounA man skilled in a particular trade or craft, especially one involving careful manual work.

Craftsman in a sentence

• The old chair was clearly built by a master craftsman rather than a factory.

• Every joint in the cabinet showed the patience of a true craftsman.

Where does craftsman come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English compound, and both halves are deeply Germanic. The first part, craft, comes from the Old English craeft, which originally meant 'strength', 'power', or 'might' as much as 'skill', so an early craftsman was someone with mastery and force in a trade. Over the centuries the 'power' sense faded and the 'skill' sense took over, which is why we now associate craft purely with handiwork and trades. The second part, man, is from the Old English mann, meaning a human being or person. The two were joined with a connecting 's', the same genitive 's' you see in 'huntsman' and 'salesman', literally 'a man of craft'. That hidden linking 's' is exactly the spelling trap, since the word is pronounced with a 'ts' cluster that is easy to drop or muddle.

How the word is built

• craft (skill, trade)
• -s- (linking genitive)
• man (person)