apprentice

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English apprentis, also aprentis,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman aprentiz,^[5][6] borrowed from Old French aprentis, the nominative of aprentif,^[7][8][9] from aprendre (“to learn; to teach”),^{[10][7][4][11]} inherited from Latin apprendere (“to grasp mentally, learn”), a contraction of apprehendō (“to seize, take hold of, grasp”), the source of apprehend.^{[5][2][8][10]} The ending follows French words in -tis and -tif, from Latin -tīvus.^[7][12][9] Barnhart, the American Heritage Dictionary and Dictionary.com trace the French noun to a Vulgar Latin or Gallo-Romance form *apprēnditīcius (“learner of a trade”).^[5][3][13] Modern French took apprentis as a plural and formed the singular apprenti.^[7][10] In Anglo-Norman the noun is recorded from the early 13th century, for one learning a trade under a master and for a junior lawyer.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A learner of a craft, bound by agreement to serve a master for a set time in return for instruction: 1307 in Barnhart,^[5] about 1300 in Etymonline,^[10] and 1362 in the OED, in Langland's Piers Plowman.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The short form prentice was long more usual in English.^[10][9][14] About 1400 an apprentice could also be a barrister of less than sixteen years' standing, a sense obsolete by 1863;^[7][8] from 1489 the word was also extended to any beginner or novice.^[7][8] Johnson (1755), quoting Cowell, defined it as one bound by covenant to serve a tradesman for a term of years in return for instruction in his art.^[15] The verb, to bind as an apprentice, is recorded from 1631,^[7][5][10] although Merriam-Webster's Unabridged dates it to about 1596.^[2]

Timeline

• 1307 – a learner of a trade bound to a master.^[5]
• 1362 – in Langland's Piers Plowman.^[7]
• c. 1400 – a barrister of less than sixteen years' standing (obsolete by 1863).^[7]
• 1489 – a beginner, a novice.^[7]
• c. 1596 – verb, by Merriam-Webster's dating.^[2]
• 1631 – verb, to bind as an apprentice.^[7][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person who works for a skilled employer for a set period to learn a trade or profession: an apprentice plumber.
2. A beginner or novice at anything.

Verb

1. To take on, place or bind someone as an apprentice: At fifteen she was apprenticed to a printer.
2. To serve as an apprentice.

Word family

• apprenticeship
• seaman apprentice

Related words

• prentice
• apprehend
• comprehend
• prehensile

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
14. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.