guildsman

guildsman — noun

1. a member of a guild — an old group of skilled workers or traders in one trade wh

1.nounC2
Definition

a member of a guild — an old group of skilled workers or traders in one trade who set shared rules, controlled quality, and trained new members.

Example

As a guildsman, Mert paid yearly dues and obeyed his guild's strict rules.

as a guildsman: stating someone's membership role

Every guildsman in the silver trade made a perfect cup before becoming a master.

Common collocations
  • fellow guildsman
  • master guildsman
Synonyms
  • guild member

    neutral, gender-free equivalent

  • journeyman

    a trained guild worker who has finished an apprenticeship

  • craftsman

    stresses the skilled trade itself rather than guild membership

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 2: here the man simply belongs to a guild, with no political meaning — the word is almost always historical, describing medieval and early-modern trade guilds.

Common Mistakes

She is a guildsman of the bakers.
She is a guild member of the bakers.
'guildsman' names a man, so use the neutral 'guild member' for a woman.

2. someone who supports guild socialism, the political idea that workers themselves

2.nounC2
Definition

someone who supports guild socialism, the political idea that workers themselves should run industry through trade guilds instead of the government.

Example

Christopher became a guildsman in college, certain that workers, not the state, should run the mills.

became a guildsman: adopting the ideology

At a crowded hall in Sheffield, the young guildsmen argued that steelworkers should run their own factories.

guildsmen argued that + their belief

Common collocations
  • fellow guildsmen
Synonyms
  • guild socialist

    the more explicit modern term for this advocate

  • syndicalist

    related, but favours trade unions rather than guilds as the unit of worker control

Antonyms

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1: this sense marks a political stance, not guild membership, and appears mainly in early twentieth-century British writing about guild socialism.

Word family

  • guild
    nounB2
  • guildhall
    nounC1
  • guildswoman
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe a skilled worker, but they differ in focus. A guildsman is defined by belonging to a guild — the organisation matters more than the personal skill. A craftsman is named for making things well by hand, with no group implied. A journeyman has finished an apprenticeship and can work for pay, but has not yet reached master rank, so the word marks a stage of training. A tradesman simply works in a trade or sells goods, often with no craft skill at all. Use guildsman in historical contexts: 'Each guildsman swore loyalty to the guild,' but say craftsman for a modern furniture maker and tradesman for a plumber or electrician.

craftsman ↗journeyman ↗tradesman ↗artisan

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • a member of the guild

Adjectives

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Formed from 'guild' plus 'man'. 'Guild' goes back to an Old English word meaning a payment or contribution, because early guilds were groups whose members paid into a common fund for mutual help. By the Middle Ages the word named the craft and merchant associations of a town, and a 'guildsman' was a man enrolled in one. The much later 'guild socialism' sense borrowed the medieval idea of trade-based self-government for a modern political theory.

First known use

1873

1873, in the meaning defined at sense 1