welder

Etymology

It is formed from English weld + -er, an agent noun from the verb.^[2][3][4] Weld itself, recorded from the 1590s, is an alteration of the verb well, to boil or rise, probably under the influence of its past participle.^[3][2] The variant spelling weldor is also recorded.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who welds, specifically a smith employed only in welding: 1828–32, in Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged date it to 1828.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From 1896 the word was also used for a machine that welds.^[2][3] An older welder was a different matter: the 1989 edition of the OED lists it as an obsolete form of wielder,^[6] and Johnson (1755) recorded it as a term "perhaps merely Irish" for the tenant at the bottom of a chain of subtenants, who paid a rack-rent, suggesting a derivation from wield.^[7]

Timeline

• 1828 – one who welds; a smith employed in welding.^[2][3][4]
• 1896 – a welding machine.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who welds, especially as a trade: The shipyard hired two more welders for the night shift.^[5][4][2]
2. A machine or device used for welding.^[5][4][2]

Related words

• weld
• well

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.