Masters

How to spell masters

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce masters

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does masters mean?

1. verbGains complete skill in or full control over something (third person singular).
2. nounMore than one person who has control, authority, or expert skill in a field.
3. nounA postgraduate degree ranking above a bachelor's qualification.

Masters in a sentence

• verb

  She quickly masters any new software the office adopts.

• noun

  The old masters of the Renaissance painted with extraordinary patience.

• noun

  He earned his masters in economics before joining the bank.

• verb

  Once he masters the basic chords, the rest of the guitar lesson is easier.

• noun

  Experienced chess masters study famous openings for years.

• noun

  A masters programme usually takes one or two years to complete.

Where does masters come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin magister, meaning 'chief', 'director', or 'teacher', a noun built on the root magis, meaning 'more' or 'greater', so a magister was literally 'the greater one' set above others. It passed into Old English as mægister and was later reinforced by the Old French maistre, both meaning a person in authority or a skilled expert. Over the centuries the noun gathered a wide range of senses: a household head, a craftsman who had qualified to train apprentices, a revered artist (as in 'the old masters'), and eventually an advanced academic qualification. The same magister root also gives us 'magistrate' and, by a quieter route, 'mister' and 'mistress', which are worn-down spoken forms of the same word. The plain -s ending here simply marks either the plural noun or the third-person verb, so the spelling stays regular and predictable.

How the word is built

• master (from Latin magister: chief, teacher)
• -s (plural/third-person verb suffix)