schoolmaster

English

Alternative forms

• scholemaster (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English skolemayster, scolemaister, scol-meister, equivalent to school +‎ master. Cognate with West Frisian skoalmaster (“schoolmaster”), Dutch schoolmeester (“schoolmaster”), Low German Schoolmeester, Schoolmeister (“schoolmaster”), German Schulmeister (“schoolmaster”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskulˌmæstəɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

schoolmaster (plural schoolmasters)

1. A male teacher.
   1. A male teacher in charge of a school, usually a small one.
2. (figurative) Anything that teaches.

   The war was a tough schoolmaster for the Athenians.

   • 1994, Gary Goldschneider, Joost Elffers, “June Ninth: The Day of Mental Insistence”, in The Secret Language of Birthdays, page 241:

     If death is the schoolmaster, then life is our homework

Derived terms

• schoolmasterish
• schoolmasterly
• the schoolmaster is abroad

Related terms

• schoolmistress
• headmaster / headmistress

Translations

male teacher

• Bulgarian: учител (bg) m (učitel), преподавател (bg) m (prepodavatel)
• Estonian: koolmeister (et) (dated)
• Finnish: koulumestari (fi)
• French: maître d'école (fr) m
• German: Schulmeister (de) m (dated)
• Greek: δάσκαλος (el) m (dáskalos)
• Hungarian: iskolai tanár
• Japanese: 教諭 (ja), 教員 (ja), 教師 (ja), 講師 (ja), 教官 (ja)
• Sindhi: ماسْترُ m (māstru)
• Thai: อาจารย์ (th) (aa-jaan)
• Welsh: meistr (cy) m, meistr ysgol m

male teacher in charge of a small school

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: johtajaopettaja
• Greek: διευθυντής (el) m (diefthyntís)
• Hungarian: iskolaigazgató (hu)
• Japanese: 先生 (ja), 講師 (ja)

anything that teaches

• Bulgarian: учител (bg) m (učitel)
• Finnish: opettaja (fi)
• Hungarian: tanító (hu)
• Japanese: 教員 (ja), 教官 (ja), 講師 (ja), 先生 (ja)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ido: ^{(please verify)} skolestro (io)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} preside (it) m or f
• Luxembourgish: ^{(please verify)} Schoulmeeschter m
• Manx: ^{(please verify)} mainshtyr scoill m
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} müdür (tr), ^{(please verify)} okul müdürü (tr)

Verb

schoolmaster (third-person singular simple present schoolmasters, present participle schoolmastering, simple past and past participle schoolmastered)

1. To teach in the capacity of schoolmaster.