Jump to:

• carpenter
  carpenter

  noun

  a person who builds or repairs wooden structures, as houses, scaffolds, or shelving.
• Carpenter
  Carpenter

  noun

  John Alden, 1876–1951, U.S. composer.

carpenter

¹ American  

[kahr-puhn-ter] / ˈkɑr pən tər /

noun

1. a person who builds or repairs wooden structures, as houses, scaffolds, or shelving.

---

verb (used without object)

1. to do carpenter's work.

verb (used with object)

1. to make by carpentry.

2. to construct (a plot, scene, article, or the like) in a mechanical or unoriginal fashion.

Carpenter ² American  

[kahr-puhn-ter] / ˈkɑr pən tər /

noun

1. John Alden, 1876–1951, U.S. composer.

2. (Malcolm) Scott, 1925–2013, U.S. astronaut and oceanographer.

---

carpenter ¹ British  

/ ˈkɑːpɪntə /

noun

1. a person skilled in woodwork, esp in buildings, ships, etc

---

verb

1. (intr) to do the work of a carpenter

2. (tr) to make or fit together by or as if by carpentry

Carpenter ² British  

/ ˈkɑːpɪntə /

noun

1. John Alden. 1876–1951, US composer, who used jazz rhythms in orchestral music: his works include the ballet Skyscrapers (1926) and the orchestral suite Adventures in a Perambulator (1915)

---

Other Word Forms

• uncarpentered
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of carpenter

1275–1325; Middle English < Anglo-French < Late Latin carpentārius wainwright, equivalent to Latin carpent ( um ) two-wheeled carriage (< Celtic; compare Old Irish carpad chariot) + -ārius -ary; see -er ²

Explanation

A carpenter is a person who makes things out of wood. You could hire a carpenter to build you a dining room table and two long benches. Carpenters specialize in woodworking, making furniture and buildings from wood and repairing various wooden things. If you wanted beautiful handmade wooden cabinets in your kitchen, you'd hire a carpenter. The word has been around since the 14th century, but it's been a common last name for even longer. It comes from the Late Latin carpentarius, "wagon maker," with its root word carpentum, "wagon."

Example Sentences

GOLDEN, the viral single from the animated hit K-Pop Demon Hunters, was named Song of the Year, and Sabrina Carpenter won Album of the Year for Man's Best Friend.

From BBC • May 26, 2026

Carpenter raised fiscal 2026 operating income guidance by 33% and adjusted free cash flow by 22.3%, with a target stock price of $572.

From Barron's • May 21, 2026

Prices for its aerospace customers increased almost 10% year over year, Carpenter CEO Tony Thene said on the company’s latest quarterly call.

From Barron's • May 21, 2026

As the Supreme Court eight years ago in Carpenter v.

From Slate • May 20, 2026

In 1621 Nathanael Carpenter published his Philosophia libera, or free philosophy.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

• artisan
• builder
• cabinetmaker
• laborer
• woodworker
• worker