apprentice
/əˈpɹɛntɪs/noun, verb
apprentice is spelled A-P-P-R-E-N-T-I-C-E. The wrong spelling people search most is apprentise: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 133 of all searches for the word. Apprentice is a noun meaning “A trainee, especially in a skilled trade”. The plural of apprentice is apprentices.
How many letters and syllables are in apprentice?
| Letters | 10: A-P-P-R-E-N-T-I-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.0 times per million words; the 11,198th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, apprentise, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell apprentice?
Apprentice is spelled A-P-P-R-E-N-T-I-C-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 133 of the searches for apprentice in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is apprentice?
Apprentice appears 5.0 times per million words in written English, the 11,198th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce apprentice?
- /əˈpɹɛntɪs/
Apprentice has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-apprentice.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of apprentice
- apprentices plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- apprenticing participle, present
- apprenticed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does apprentice mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A trainee, especially in a skilled trade.
- 2
One who is bound by indentures or by legal agreement to serve a tradesperson, or other person, for a certain time, with a view to learn the art, or trade, in which his master is bound to instruct him.
- 3
datedOne not well versed in a subject; a tyro or newbie.
verb
- 1
To put under the care and supervision of a master, for the purpose of instruction in a trade or business.
His father had apprenticed him to a silk merchant.
- 2
To be an apprentice to.
Joe apprenticed three different photographers before setting up his own studio.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate apprentice?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of apprentice: app..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Apprentice in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | apprenti |
| German | Lehrling, Auszubildender, Auszubildende, Azubi , Lehrtochter , in die Lehre geben zu |
| Portuguese | aprendiz |
| Spanish | aprendiz , colocar de aprendiz |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does apprentice come from?
From Middle English apprentice, apprentesse, apprentyse, apprentis, from Old French aprentis, plural of aprentif, from Old French aprendre (verb), Late Latin apprendō, from Classical Latin apprehendō. Compare typologically Latin discipulus (akin to capiō); Russian ухвати́ть (uxvatítʹ), нахвата́ться (naxvatátʹsja), схва́тывать на лету́ (sxvátyvatʹ na letú), and, for another aspect, быть на подхва́те (bytʹ na podxváte) (both akin to хвата́ть (xvatátʹ)).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).