journeyman
noun
New Yorker
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The journey in journeyman refers to a sense of the familiar word not often used anymore: "a day's labor." This sense of journey was first used in the 14th century. When journeyman appeared the following century, it originally referred to a person who, having learned a handicraft or trade through an apprenticeship, worked for daily wages. In the 16th century, journeyman picked up a figurative (and mainly deprecatory) sense; namely, "one who drudges for another." These days, however, journeyman has little to do with drudgery, and lots to do with knowing a trade inside out.
Examples of journeyman in a Sentence
Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 14 May 2025
The 31-year-old journeyman is on his sixth team in his ninth-year career, but he's been a cog in the Clippers' rotation through two playoff games, with 31 minutes in Game 1 and 29 more in Game 2.
—Tyler Everett, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Apr. 2025
Her famous grandfather, Walter Huston, was a Broadway theater performer turned Hollywood actor in the 1930s and ’40s, while her father, John Huston, was perhaps the most important and imposing journeyman filmmaker of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
—Erik Morse, Vogue, 15 Apr. 2025
The team let Eddy Piñeiro test free-agency this summer and signed journeyman Matthew Wright as a result.
—Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 27 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for journeyman
Cite this Entry
“Journeyman.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/journeyman. Accessed 29 May. 2025.
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journeyman
noun
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