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Glite Dictionary
journeyman's piece

journeyman's piece

9.9
A piece of skilled work made to show a worker can become a master
  • noun
  • /ˈdʒɜrnɪmənz piːs/
  • Archaic
translation icon : pieza de oficial
  • She carved a wooden chest as her journeyman's piece, impressing the examination committee.

Examples

  • Apprentices were often judged by the quality of their journeyman's piece before becoming full members of the guild.

  • His journeyman's piece displayed exceptional attention to detail and craftsmanship.

  • He proudly displayed his journeyman's piece at the exhibition.

  • The journeyman's pieces were inspected by the master craftsman.

  • His journeyman's piece displayed exceptional attention to detail and craftsmanship.

  • She carved a wooden chest as her journeyman's piece, impressing the examination committee.

  • Apprentices were often judged by the quality of their journeyman's piece before becoming full members of the guild.

Synonyms

piece
vsjourneyman's piece
∞ 3.0

A creative work such as a song, painting or article

is used to show practical skill within a trade for qualification
piece of work
vsjourneyman's piece
  • Informal
23 6.2

Something impressive but difficult, for example a book or building, and sometimes a person who behaves strangely

is produced specifically to prove trade competence for qualification

How Skilled

masterpiece
156 3.8
journeyman's piece
  • Archaic
9.9
sample
∞ 2.3

Surface Forms

journeyman's piece singular
journeyman's pieces plural

Morphology

journeyman's + piece

This is a straightforward possessive composition: 'journeyman's' indicates the maker and 'piece' indicates a work or item, so the phrase literally denotes a work produced by a journeyman to show skill. The occupational/possessive pattern is cross-linguistically common, so a learner who knows both constituent words would be able to infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Journeyman's piece comes from old craft traditions when a journeyman was a trained worker who made a special piece of work to show they could 'become a master'. So, the phrase now means an important work made to 'prove someone is skilled'.