blacksmith

American  

[blak-smith] / ˈblækˌsmɪθ /

noun

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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Etymology

Origin of blacksmith

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

After some trial and error, he and a local blacksmith retrofitted a hand-cranked coffee mill so that it could efficiently twist wire into uniform barbs.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026

Radhwan, a 70-year-old blacksmith, felt a bullet or a piece of debris — he couldn’t tell — graze his upper lip.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 25, 2025

His father was a blacksmith who received work from a nearby Romany camp and scrap metal yard.

From BBC • Aug. 10, 2024

Shortly afterward Hugh the blacksmith and his wife and child are being crushed by the crowds desperately pushing against the soldiers standing in the way of their freedom.

From Salon • Jul. 18, 2024

In Rochester, Father set up a blacksmith shop and Mother set up housekeeping.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock