Etymology

tradesman

T1R1A1D2E1S1M3A1N1

Today it means: A skilled manual worker (implied male). Full definition →

Middle English man ← Old English mann ← Proto-West Germanic *mann
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dreh₂-
  2. Proto-Germanic*tradō
  3. Proto-West Germanic*trudo
  4. Old Saxontrada
  5. Middle Low Germantrade
  6. Middle Englishtrade
  7. Englishtrade
  8. Proto-Indo-European*mon-
  9. Proto-Germanic*mann-
  10. Proto-West Germanic*mann
  11. Old Englishmann
  12. Middle Englishman
  13. English todaytradesman

From trade + -s- + -man.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.