Baker

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈbeɪ.kə(ɹ)/

Definitions

1. A professional engaged in the creation and sale of various baked items including bread, cakes, and pastries
2. Someone devoted to the art of baking, responsible for producing a range of goods like loaves and desserts
3. A skilled individual who specializes in producing and selling baked goods such as breads, pastries, and cakes

Etymology: The word "baker" is about as plain as English compounds get: it is "bake" with the agent suffix "-er," meaning one who does the baking. What is less obvious is how far back that suffix runs. The Old English form "bæcere" was built on a Proto-Germanic pattern, *bakārijaz, so the idea of a person whose trade is baking goes back to the shared ancestor of English, German, and the Scandinavian languages. The cognates show this clearly. Dutch has "bakker," German has "Bäcker," Swedish has "bagare," and Icelandic has "bakari," all meaning the same thing and all sharing the same root. Their resemblance is not coincidence: each language inherited the word from that common Germanic source rather than borrowing it from one another.

Synonyms: pastry chef, bread maker, confectioner