Craftsmanship

How to spell craftsmanship

13 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce craftsmanship

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does craftsmanship mean?

1. nounThe skill and quality shown by someone in making something, especially by hand.

Craftsmanship in a sentence

• The antique desk shows a level of craftsmanship rarely seen today.

• Customers pay extra for the craftsmanship that goes into each handmade guitar.

Where does craftsmanship come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built entirely from native English roots, which is why it has stayed so transparent in meaning. The first part, 'craft', comes from the Old English 'cræft', which originally carried a much broader sense of strength, power, or skill, and could even mean cunning before it narrowed to mean a practised trade or manual art. The element 'man' is the equally old Old English 'mann', meaning a person, while the ending '-ship' descends from the Old English '-scipe', a suffix that turns a word into an abstract quality or state, the same ending you see in 'friendship' and 'hardship'. By the eighteenth century the compound 'craftsmanship' had settled into its modern meaning of the skill and quality shown in making something by hand. The tricky part for spellers is the hidden linking 's' that joins 'craft' and 'man', giving 'crafts-man-ship' rather than 'craft-man-ship'.

How the word is built

• craft (skill, trade)
• -s- (linking element)
• man (person)
• -ship (suffix denoting condition, quality, or skill)