Maisters

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who are experts or highly skilled in a particular field or craft
2. Leaders or supervisors who guide others in their work
3. Title or term for those holding mastery in a specific trade or discipline

Etymology: "Maisters" is the genitive (possessive) form of "maister," an older spelling of "master." The noun it belongs to comes from Old English "mægester" and ultimately from Latin "magister," meaning a teacher or chief, a word built on "magis," "more." The possessive ending is what makes this form look unfamiliar: a phrase like "maisters tools" would once have meant "the master's tools," with the apostrophe-s marking whose they were. The spelling "maister" was common in Middle and early Modern English, when the vowel sounds of the language were different and the word was pronounced closer to "mah-ster" with a long vowel. Scribes wrote it with "ai" to represent that sound, a pattern that also appears in words like "faire" for "fare." Over the centuries the spelling settled into "master" while the possessive remained the usual form in writing about craftsmen and their guilds.

Synonyms: masters, experts, specialists, craftsmen, professionals

Antonyms: novices, beginners, amateurs