Woolworker

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person employed in the preparation, carding, spinning, or weaving of wool into yarn or cloth
2. Someone who works in the textile industry processing raw wool into finished fabric or thread
3. A worker engaged in converting fleece or raw wool into usable yarn or woven material

Etymology: A woolworker is simply someone who works with wool, and the word is built from the two plainest parts imaginable: "wool" and "worker." Nothing about its making is hidden. The first element, "wool," is an old Germanic word for the fleece of sheep, and the second, "worker," is the ordinary English term for someone who labours at a task, so the compound describes its trade without any metaphor or special sense attached. The pattern is typical of English. Many occupational words were formed by placing a material before "worker" or a similar agent noun, such as "ironworker," "metalworker" or "woodworker," and "woolworker" follows the same logic. Because the parts are transparent, the word needs no further explanation: it names a person whose work is the handling, processing or manufacture of wool.

Synonyms: woolworker