millwright
Aug. 31st, 2021 07:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordmillwright (MIL-rait) - n., a person who designs and builds mills and mill machinery; a person who installs, maintains, and repairs machinery in factories, power plants, and so on.
The first, older sense is a synonym for mill-builder, while the second, current sense is industrial mechanic. The original millwrights built flour mills and saw mills, so the occupation is as old as the Roman Empire. Machinists work with what the millwright sets up. The term goes back to Middle English, and the -wright suffix means someone who makes whatever the stem is (as in playwright, who makes plays).
---L.
The first, older sense is a synonym for mill-builder, while the second, current sense is industrial mechanic. The original millwrights built flour mills and saw mills, so the occupation is as old as the Roman Empire. Machinists work with what the millwright sets up. The term goes back to Middle English, and the -wright suffix means someone who makes whatever the stem is (as in playwright, who makes plays).
---L.
