blacksmith

American  

[blak-smith] / ˈblækˌsmɪθ /

noun

• blacksmiths
  plural

1. a person who makes horseshoes and shoes horses.

2. a person who forges objects of iron.

3. a blackish damselfish, Chromis punctipinnis, inhabiting coastal waters off southern California.

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blacksmith British  

/ ˈblækˌsmɪθ /

noun

1. an artisan who works iron with a furnace, anvil, hammer, etc

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• blacksmiths
  plural

Etymology

Origin of blacksmith

1250–1300; Middle English; see black (in reference to iron or black metal), smith ( def. ); cf. whitesmith

Explanation

A blacksmith is someone who makes tools and other objects out of metal. Working as a blacksmith involves heating metal then bending and hammering it into the desired shape. Blacksmiths mainly work with iron and steel, heating it until it's soft enough to bend, fold, and shape using tools. A blacksmith can make things like wrought iron fences and gates, knives and other cooking utensils, and metal light fixtures. While today many metal items once made by blacksmiths are mass produced in factories, there's a renewed interest in learning to make metal objects by hand.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

blacksmith blacksmiths

He then asked a local blacksmith to turn his idea into a functional device.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026

"I decided I wanted to be a blacksmith when I was about 10, I think, I remember telling my mum that that's what I was going to be," he said.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

Guests stroll into blacksmith shops and corn mills, dine on cinnamon bread and other local delicacies, and seek quiet time in an authentic Appalachian chapel.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

In Pompeii, there are Avianius, a teenager apprenticed to a blacksmith, and Julia Felix, a rare female businesswoman who runs a kind of spa cum entertainment center for the well-to-do.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

At the time, a New York State blacksmith like their father John Fox earned about $1.50 a day.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

Joe said there were more blacksmiths than people might expect, with about 1,800 members of the British Artistic Blacksmithing Association.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

Metals get softer when they are heated, which is how blacksmiths can form iron into complex shapes by heating it red hot.

From Science Daily ● May 22, 2024

The amateur blacksmiths were hard at work: heating metal rods, then hammering them into shape.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 25, 2023

They were doctors, lawyers, politicians, scientists, teachers, politicians, engineers, blacksmiths, generals, soldiers, artists, poets, writers, artisans, farmers, explorers, businesspeople, philosophers, and people from a range of other backgrounds.

From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2023

‘It sounds like a hundred blacksmiths all smithying together,’ said Sam to Frodo.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien