Kraft

How to spell kraft

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce kraft

What does kraft mean?

1. nounA tough brown paper or board made by the sulphate pulping process, used for wrapping, packaging, and sacks.

Kraft in a sentence

• The parcels were wrapped in heavy brown kraft before shipping.

• The warehouse stocks rolls of kraft for lining the shipping crates.

Where does kraft come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word comes straight from the German Kraft, which simply means 'strength' or 'force'. It entered English as a technical term in the paper trade after the German chemist Carl F. Dahl patented the sulphate pulping method in 1879, a process that produced exceptionally strong, durable brown paper. Because the resulting paper was prized for its toughness, the whole method became known as the kraft process, and the paper itself as kraft paper, carrying the German sense of strength right into the factory name. English adopted the term around the turn of the twentieth century and kept the original German k-spelling rather than anglicising it to 'craft', which is exactly why the word is such a reliable spelling trap. The same Kraft root sits behind the German word Kräfte (forces) and is distantly related, through old Germanic roots, to the English 'craft', though their meanings have drifted far apart.

How the word is built

• kraft (from German Kraft: strength, force)

Words that sound like kraft

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• craft: Skill in making things by hand, or a trade or occupation requiring such skill.