Australian Slang For Carpenter (Helpful Content!)

The most common Australian slang term for carpenter is “chippy”. This is universal in Australia and is used by just about everyone, or at the very least understood by everyone. “Carpitrician” is a less commonly used slang term denoting a carpenter who can also do the work of an electrician. Joke terms for carpenter like “Jesus Christ” are also used.

Tradespeople always tend to have a couple of different slang terms to describe their professions.

This is generally simply because they are in environments where a lot of colloquial chatter tends to go on, and people just prefer to use quicker, snappier terms than the whole word “carpenter”.

This is just as true in Australia as it is anywhere.

Let’s find out more.

In This Article

What do Australians call carpenters?

It’s worth mentioning that Australians are probably just as likely to use the word “carpenter” as they are to use any particular slang term.

Unless you are a tradesperson who regularly deals with carpenters, then “carpenter” is what you may well call them.

That said, the most common slang term for a carpenter in Australia is a “chippy”.

This term is used more or less universally, and is not limited to any particular region of the country or any age group within the country.

The young and old, from all cities and all regions of Australia, tend to call a carpenter a chippy if they use slang at all.

Most will likely understand what you mean by this, although at the same time it’s often thought of as being tradesperson slang.

Other tradespeople will definitely be very familiar with the term, and perhaps more so than the average person.

Nonetheless, it remains the most widely used and common slang term for carpenter. “We’ll need to get a chippy in for the stairs,” for example.

Another, somewhat common term in Australia to describe a certain kind of carpenter is the rather unwieldy and uncomfortable slang term “carpitrician”.

This is a term used to describe a carpenter who is also able to take care of the job of an electrician.

Now, while the average carpenter might happen to be a keener electrician than the average person generally, “carpitricians” of this kind are not at all common .

Nonetheless, the term is worth being aware of.

Finally, one other slang term you’ll hear for a carpenter is “Jesus Christ”.

I’ll get into why exactly carpenters are sometimes called this shortly, if you haven’t already figured it out.

But this one is usually used as a bit of a joke, again often among other tradespeople, to describe carpenters.

Let’s look at where these terms come from.

Why do Australians say “chippy”?

The term “chippy” as a slang name for carpenters relates to the fact that woodwork is their stock in trade.

When little bits of wood break away as they always will during carpentry, these are called “wood chips” in English.

Thus, it was a very natural slang term for carpenters to call them because they work with wood.

It’s hard to say when this term was first used in Australia, but it’s a very old term.

We can see that it was first used in at least the 16^th Century and perhaps much earlier.

This was originally used in Britain, particularly in England, and indeed it was by 1770 that there was a common proverb in English which followed: “A carpenter is known by his chips.”

This was precisely the time when Australia and indeed this whole region of the world was first being settled by Europeans and indeed the English in particular.

So, the term may well have spread to Australia as early as this. It’s hard to say with any certainty, as there’s not much written record of its use in Australia, but it certainly is a very old term in any case.

Why do Australians say “carpitrician”?

Carpitrician, as mentioned, is a somewhat common slang term used in Australia for an electrician/carpenter all in one package.

As you can probably see, the term is simply a conjoining of parts of both words, an uncomfortable mass of syllables that makes the English-speaking mind quiver.

Unsurprisingly, this word really hasn’t caught on in the same way that catchy terms like “chippy” have.

Why do Australians call carpenters “Jesus Christ”?

Finally, as a joke, carpenters in Australia are sometimes referred to as “Jesus Christ” or just “Jesus”.

This is because, according to the Gospels, Jesus Christ was born the son of a carpenter and thus he took up the trade himself as a young man.

This is well documented as part of Jesus’s early life, though there’s naturally not much historical evidence that this was the case.

This, though, doesn’t matter.

It’s general knowledge that Jesus spent the early portion of his life in this trade, so carpenters are often called this in Australia.

It’s not clear when this term started being used.

Given the longstanding Christian tradition of western nations, it could have been at any time since its discovery—even when taking the lord’s name in vain was considered a heinous social taboo!

So, there are a few terms for carpenter in Australia, but “chippy” is by far the most common. It’s naturally the simplest, and indeed it is not exclusive to Australia by any means.

It’s also universal, used by all demographics, young and old, in virtually all parts of the country.

“Carpitrician” is naturally a lot less common but not unheard of in the right circumstances.

“Jesus Christ” is obviously a bit a joke slang phrase but one that’s widely understood nevertheless.

More in Australian Slang

Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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