Sempster

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person whose trade is sewing and making garments, especially a tailor or needlewoman in earlier times
2. An old term for a craftsperson who stitches clothing, such as a tailor or seamstress working with cloth
3. Someone who makes or mends garments by sewing, a designation used mainly in former centuries for a tailor

Etymology: A sempster was once a tailor or seamstress, and the word is a much older relative of "seamster," which is the form that survived in everyday English. It comes from Old English "sēamestre," formed from "sēam" (seam) with the agent suffix "-estre," which marked a woman who performed a trade. Sempster was used as a common term through the medieval and early modern period, and surviving records show it being applied to people who sewed for a living, including those who made garments and linen goods. The word survived mainly in dialect and regional use, and its meaning narrowed as the trade itself changed. Once clothing was produced in workshops and factories, the older occupational nouns faded from ordinary speech, leaving "sempster" largely to historical texts and dictionaries.

Synonyms: seamstress, tailor, needlewoman