A prentice is a young learner bound to a master of a trade. A prentice boy, the prentice years, bound as a prentice.
It is the old shortened form of apprentice and survives in historical writing, in surnames and in the phrase prentice hand, meaning the work of a beginner. The apprenticeship itself was a legal indenture, usually seven years, and it governed entry to every trade in Britain for centuries. Note prentice piece; and that Prentice as a surname comes from exactly this.
1nounprenticeA young learner bound to a master of a trade.
“The prentice served about seven years.”
prentice is a trainee.
Also accepted in games: apprentice
Prentice is an aphetic form of apprentice, from Old French aprentis, from aprendre, to learn. English lost the first syllable, as it did in squire from esquire.
An old (Middle English -) apprentice.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire