farrier
Americannoun
noun
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a person who shoes horses
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archaic another name for veterinary surgeon
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military a noncommissioned officer who looks after horses
Etymology
Origin of farrier
1375–1425; variant of ferrier < Middle French, Old French < Latin ferrārius “smith” (equivalent to ferr(um) “iron” + -ārius -ary ); replacing late Middle English fer(r)our < Anglo-French, Old French ferreor < Latin ferrātor (unattested)
Explanation
A farrier is a person whose job involves taking care of horses' hooves and shoeing them if they need protection. Being a farrier was far more common hundreds of years ago, when horses were a major form of transportation. If you love working with horses, you might consider being a farrier. The job involves a lot of knowledge of and care for the animals' feet, with additional skills in working with metal, bending and shaping it to fit a horse's hoof. In fact, the term farrier demonstrates how closely related the profession is to blacksmithing, or making things from metal: farrier comes from the Latin root ferrum, or "iron."
Vocabulary lists containing farrier
Horsin' Around
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Black Beauty
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The War That Saved My Life
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
His father was a farrier, his grandfather ran a company making wire machinery and his ancestors were nail makers.
From BBC • Dec. 6, 2025
His source was a farrier, and Mr. Evans soon learned that the vocation of calming horses had a long history stretching back centuries.
From New York Times • Aug. 15, 2022
By the mid-1960s, he was working as a farrier shoeing horses for TV westerns, and he eventually was recruited for stunts.
From Washington Post • Aug. 2, 2020
Ring gets his horseshoes from a farrier friend of his, who gives him old horseshoes in exchange for help with occasional welding projects.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 25, 2017
Just two weeks later, on February 8, Bunderson asked the judge to rule that he would advise the jury to question the reliability of the farrier.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
