apprentice

A1P3P3R1E1N1T1I1C3E1
/əˈpɹɛntɪs/

noun

A trainee, especially in a skilled trade.

“He was apprenticed to a local employer.”

Similar
learnerprentice
OriginMiddle English apprentice ← Old French aprentis ← Late Latin apprendō →
CommonScrabble 16
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounapprentice (plural apprentices)

plural apprentices · alternative obsolete apprentise

  1. A trainee, especially in a skilled trade.

    Scottish rail suppliers have told the Government that they can only reach their target of employing 500 apprentices if they are given a clear pipeline of work, rather than having to endure the current stop-go programme.

    2022 December 14, “Network News: A pipeline of work key for apprentices”, in RAIL, number 972, page 17
    1 more example

    To this end a well-equipped and keenly-run apprentice training school has been in operation at Eastleigh since 1958 and here apprentices are given a good grounding in a number of trades, followed by a thorough training in the trade to which they become allocated.

    1961 March, C. P. Boocock, “The organisation of Eastleigh Locomotive Works”, in Trains Illustrated, page 163
  2. historicalOne who is bound by indentures or by legal agreement to serve a tradesperson, or other person, for a certain time, with a view to learn the art, or trade, in which his master is bound to instruct him.
  3. datedOne not well versed in a subject; a tyro or newbie.
verbapprentice (third-person singular simple present apprentices, present participle apprenticing, simple past and past participle apprenticed)

present singular third person apprentices · participle present apprenticing · participle past apprenticed · past apprenticed · alternative obsolete apprentise

  1. transitiveTo put under the care and supervision of a master, for the purpose of instruction in a trade or business.

    He was apprenticed to a local employer.

    2 more examples

    His father had apprenticed him to a silk merchant.

    Early in his career, Trump apprenticed himself to Roy Cohn, an unprincipled lawyer who taught the young Trump how to gain wealth and influence through ruthless bullying, profane braggadocio, opportunistic bigotry, baseless lawsuits, lying, and more lying. Yet as Trump’s “fixer” with politicians, judges and mob bosses, Cohn remained utterly loyal to Trump and his father, Fred.

    2025 August 25, Robert Reich, “Why Trump built a staff of incompetent sycophants”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 25 Aug 2025
  2. transitiveTo be an apprentice to.

    Joe apprenticed three different photographers before setting up his own studio.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounworks for an expert to learn a trade

Similar
learnerprentice
Broader
novicebeginnertyro
Also see
beginnerfresh meatgreenhornlearnermenteeneofanneophytenub'prenticeprenticeprotégépunytenderfoottyro

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinapprehendō
  2. Late Latinapprendō
  3. Old Frenchaprendre
  4. Old Frenchaprentis
  5. Middle Englishapprentice
  6. Englishapprentice

From Middle English apprentice, apprentesse, apprentyse, apprentis, from Old French aprentis, plural of aprentif, from Old French aprendre (verb), Late Latin apprendō, from Classical Latin apprehendō. Compare typologically Latin discipulus (akin to capiō); Russian ухвати́ть (uxvatítʹ), нахвата́ться (naxvatátʹsja), схва́тывать на лету́ (sxvátyvatʹ na letú), and, for another aspect, быть на подхва́те (bytʹ na podxváte) (both akin to хвата́ть (xvatátʹ)).

More words from Middle English, Old French, Late Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic مُبْتَدِئ, مُبْتَدِئَة
  • مُبْتَدِئ (mubtadiʔ)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • مُبْتَدِئَة (mubtadiʔa)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • تِلْمِيذ (tilmīḏ)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • تِلْمِيذَة (tilmīḏa)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
Bulgarian чира́к, чира́чка
  • чира́к (čirák)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • чира́чка (čiráčka)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • чира́к (čirák)historical: one who is bound to serve a tradesperson with a view to learn his art or trade
  • чира́чка (čiráčka)historical: one who is bound to serve a tradesperson with a view to learn his art or trade
Chinese Mandarin 學徒 /学徒, 徒弟
  • 學徒 /学徒 (xuétú)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • 徒弟 (túdì)historical: one who is bound to serve a tradesperson with a view to learn his art or trade
  • 學徒 /学徒 (xuétú)historical: one who is bound to serve a tradesperson with a view to learn his art or trade
  • 當學徒 /当学徒 (dāng xuétú)be an apprentice to
Czech učeň, učnice
  • učeňtrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • učnicetrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Danish lærling
  • lærlingtrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Dutch leerjongen, leermeisje
  • leerjongentrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • leermeisjetrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • gezeltrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Estonian õpipoiss, õpipoiss
  • õpipoisstrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • õpipoisshistorical: one who is bound to serve a tradesperson with a view to learn his art or trade
Finnish harjoittelija, ammattioppilas
  • harjoittelijatrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • ammattioppilastrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • oppipoikatrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • oppipoikahistorical: one who is bound to serve a tradesperson with a view to learn his art or trade
  • olla jonkun opissabe an apprentice to
French apprenti
  • apprentitrainee, especially in a skilled trade
German Lehrling, Auszubildender
  • Lehrlingtrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • Auszubildendertrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • Auszubildendetrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • Azubitrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • Lehrlinghistorical: one who is bound to serve a tradesperson with a view to learn his art or trade
  • Lehrtochterhistorical: one who is bound to serve a tradesperson with a view to learn his art or trade
  • in die Lehre geben zuput under the care and supervision of a master
  • in die Ausbildung geben zuput under the care and supervision of a master
  • seine Ausbildung machen beibe an apprentice to
  • in der ausgebildet sein beibe an apprentice to
  • ausgebildet werden beibe an apprentice to
Greek μαθητευόμενος
  • μαθητευόμενος (mathitevómenos)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
Hindi शागिर्द, शिष्य
  • शागिर्द (śāgird)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • शिष्य (śiṣya)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
Hungarian tanuló, segéd
  • tanulótrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • segédtrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • gyakornoktrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • tanonctrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • inastrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • szakiskolástrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • inashistorical: one who is bound to serve a tradesperson with a view to learn his art or trade
  • tanonchistorical: one who is bound to serve a tradesperson with a view to learn his art or trade
Icelandic lærlingur
  • lærlingurtrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Italian apprendista, bardotto
  • apprendistatrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • bardottotrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Japanese 見習い, 実習生
  • 見習い (minarai)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • 実習生 (jisshūsei)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • 徒弟 (totei)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
Korean 견습생, 도제
  • 견습생 (gyeonseupsaeng)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • 도제 (doje)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
Latin discipulus
  • discipulustrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Latvian māceklis
  • māceklistrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Lithuanian mokinys, mokinė
  • mokinystrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • mokinėtrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Malay perantis
  • perantistrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Norwegian Bokmål lærling, læregutt
  • lærlingtrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • læregutttrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Polish uczeń, uczennica
  • uczeńtrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • uczennicatrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • terminatortrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • adepttrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • adeptkatrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Portuguese aprendiz
  • aprendiztrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Romanian ucenic, ucenică
  • ucenictrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • ucenicătrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Russian учени́к, учени́ца
  • учени́к (učeník)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • учени́ца (učeníca)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • подмасте́рье (podmastérʹje)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • подмасте́рье (podmastérʹje)historical: one who is bound to serve a tradesperson with a view to learn his art or trade
Scottish Gaelic preantas, foghlamaiche
  • preantastrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • foghlamaichetrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • tàilleabhachtrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Slovak učeň, učnica
  • učeňtrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • učnicatrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Spanish aprendiz, colocar de aprendiz
  • aprendiztrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • colocar de aprendizbe an apprentice to
Swedish lärling
  • lärlingtrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Tagalog aralan
  • aralantrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Thai ผู้ฝึกงาน
  • ผู้ฝึกงาน (pûu-fʉ̀k-ngaan)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
Turkish çırak, öğrenci
  • çıraktrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • öğrencitrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • bılıztrainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • calçıtrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Ukrainian підма́йстер, підма́йстерка
  • підма́йстер (pidmájster)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • підма́йстерка (pidmájsterka)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • у́чень (účenʹ)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • учени́ця (učenýcja)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • підма́йстер (pidmájster)historical: one who is bound to serve a tradesperson with a view to learn his art or trade
  • підма́йстерка (pidmájsterka)historical: one who is bound to serve a tradesperson with a view to learn his art or trade
Urdu شاگِرْد, تِلْمِیذ
  • شاگِرْد (śāgird)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • تِلْمِیذ (tilmīz)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
Vietnamese người học nghề
  • người học nghềtrainee, especially in a skilled trade
Yiddish לערנייִנגל, געזעל
  • לערנייִנגל (lernyingl)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
  • געזעל (gezel)trainee, especially in a skilled trade
Cite this entry
APA

apprentice. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apprentice

MLA

“apprentice.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apprentice. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “apprentice,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/apprentice.

Source: apprentice on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.