Other forms: carvers
A carver is somebody who cuts shapes from wood or stone. A wood carver, a stone carver, the carver's workshop.
It is the trade word, and the material goes in front: wood carver, stone carver, ice carver. A carver is also the large knife used for carving meat, and in a set of dining chairs the carvers are the two with arms, traditionally at the head and foot of the table. Note carving, both the activity and the object; and Carver as a surname, one of the many English names taken straight from a trade.
1nouncarverSomebody who cuts shapes from wood or stone.
“The carver spent months shaping the angel from a single block of marble.”
2nounlargeA large knife for carving meat, or a dining chair with arms.
“There are six chairs and two carvers.”
carver is a craftsperson or cutting tool.
Old English ceorfan, to cut, gives carve, and carver is simply the agent noun. The same root gives kerf, the slot a saw cuts, which is still the technical word in woodwork.
Middle English
kerver
English, today
carver
From Middle English kerver. From Middle English carver, karvere, kerver, kervere, equivalent to carve + er. Cognate with Scots kerver, carver, carvour (“carver”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA