skilled

Etymology

It is formed from English skill + -ed.^[2][3][4] The OED and Dictionary.com take the base as the noun,^[2][4] and Etymonline as the verb skill, "to have personal and practical knowledge" (about 1200), which makes it a past-participle adjective.^[5] The noun is from Old Norse skil (“distinction, discernment”),^[5][2][6] related to skilja (“to separate, discern”), from Proto-Germanic *skaljo- (“to divide, separate”), from Proto-Indo-European *skel- (“to cut”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, having skill or knowledge, properly trained: 1552, in the revised edition of T. Cooper's Bibliotheca Eliotæ,^[2][3] in the 1550s according to Etymonline^[5] and 1545–55 according to Dictionary.com.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective arrived after its base had settled on the sense of practical ability: the older meanings of the noun, "knowledge, divine wisdom" and "discernment, sound judgment", are recorded from the 12th century and are now obsolete, whereas "practical knowledge and ability" dates from the early 13th century.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "knowing; dextrous; acquainted with", quoting Milton's Of these nor skilled nor studious, and in 1773 he added that it takes of in poetry and in popularly.^[7] A second sense moved from the worker to the work: from 1776, in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, it describes work that requires or shows skill.^[2] The use before a noun, as in skilled workers, is recorded from 1843, and the OED calls it now common;^[2][8] Collins and Merriam-Webster's Unabridged both treat "requiring trained workers" as a sense of its own.^[8][3]

Timeline

• 1552 – of persons, having skill or knowledge, trained.^[2][3]
• 1776 – of work, requiring or showing skill.^[2]
• 1843 – attributive use, before a noun.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having skill; expert, trained or accomplished: a skilled carpenter.^[8][3][2] Also followed by in: skilled in surveying.^[3][7]
2. Of work or a job: needing special training or competence: Glassblowing is skilled labour.^[8][3][2]

Word family

• nonskilled
• semiskilled
• underskilled
• unskilled
• multiskilled

Related words

• skill
• skilful

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins