Other forms: potters
A potter is a craftsman who shapes clay into pots, bowls and other vessels. A potter's wheel, the potter's studio, she trained as a potter.
Pottery means both the craft and the objects, and a pottery is the workshop. The verb is entirely separate and very British: to potter is to move about doing small unhurried jobs — potter about the garden, pottering in the shed — and it is one of the most affectionate words in the language for doing nearly nothing. American English says putter. Note potter's field, an old term for a burial ground for the poor.
1nounpotterSomebody who makes pots and other objects from clay.
“The potter throws about twenty a day.”
2verbmoveTo move about doing small unhurried tasks.
“He pottered in the greenhouse all afternoon.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
potter is a craftsman, or an unhurried activity.
Old English pottere is pot plus -er, one of the oldest trade names in English along with baker and miller. The unrelated verb to potter comes from an old word pote, to push or poke, which is a fair description of pottering.
Proto-West Germanic
*pottārī — pot-maker
Old English
pottere — potter
Middle English
pottere
English, today
potter
From Middle English pottere, from Old English pottere (“potter”), from Proto-West Germanic pottārī (“pot-maker”), equivalent to pot + er. Influenced by Anglo-Norman poter, Old French potier (“potter”). Cognate with Dutch potter (“potter”), German Low German Pötter, Pütter (“potter”). Displaced - synonyms lāmwyrhta (“a worker in clay, potter”) literally “loam-worker”, tiġelwyrhta (“brickmaker, potter”) literally “tile-worker”, crocwyrhta (“crocker, potter”) literally “crock-worker”.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA