Chairmaking

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The skilled craft of constructing chairs from wood, metal, or other materials
2. The trade or occupation of designing and building chairs by hand or industrial methods
3. The activity of crafting functional or decorative chairs through woodworking or similar techniques

Etymology: "Chairmaking" is a plain compound: "chair" joined to "making," the gerund of "make." The noun "making" comes from Old English "macung," a derivative of "macian," meaning "to make," and it has been in English since Old English times. Its meaning is simply the act or process of producing something. The more interesting history lies in "chair." It descends from ancient Greek "kathédra," a compound of "katá," meaning "down," and "hédra," meaning "seat" or "base." The Greeks used it for a seat, and Romans borrowed it as "cathedra," which gave the Latin word its sense of a bishop's seat, the source of "cathedral" as the church where a bishop's throne stood. Old French turned it into "chaiere," and Middle English adopted that as "chayere," which evolved into the modern "chair." So the compound is recent in form, but both of its parts carry a long lineage: one reaches back to Old English, the other through Latin and French to a Greek word for a seat set down low.

Synonyms: chair manufacture, furniture making