What does "housewright" mean?

A person who builds and repairs houses, especially wooden houses. Particularly, in eighteenth-century colonial America, a craftsman who cut timber (like a lumberjack) in the quantity required for the construction of a house, then sawed it into planks, and finally jointed and assembled them (like a carpenter).

What is a synonym for "housewright"?

Common synonyms include: housebuilder.

Housewright

name, noun

name, noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A person who builds and repairs houses, especially wooden houses. Particularly, in eighteenth-century colonial America, a craftsman who cut timber (like a lumberjack) in the quantity required for the construction of a house, then sawed it into planks, and finally jointed and assembled them (like a carpenter).
"The north and west corners are indeed sometimes penetrated by the rain and require a little attention from the housewright to remedy the evil."

Proper Noun

1
A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms

housebuilder

Example

More examples

"The north and west corners are indeed sometimes penetrated by the rain and require a little attention from the housewright to remedy the evil."

Etymology

From house + wright (“builder”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.