métier

métier

From Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day by Merriam-Webster

May 3, 2026 · 2 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the word 'métier', its meaning, and its usage in English and French.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 3, 2026 is: métier • \MET-yay\  • noun Métier , sometimes styled metier , is a formal word that refers to something that a person does very well. // After trying several careers, she found her true métier in computer science. See the entry > Examples: “Turning from his father’s trade of corset-making, [Thomas] Paine tried his hand at business, met and impressed Benjamin Franklin in London, sailed to America, and there found his true metier as a pamphleteer and radical.” — Matthew Redmond, The Conversation , 9 Oct. 2025 Did you know? Over the centuries, English has borrowed several French words related in some way to work or working, among them oeuvre (“a substantial body of work of a writer, an artist, or a composer”) and travail (“work of a laborious nature, toil”). Métier (pronounced /MET-yay/) is another. It is sometimes translated from its original French as “job” or “career” but in that language it more accurately refers to the trade or profession in which one works (it traces back to the Old French mistier , meaning “duty, craft, profession”). In English we tend toward a narrower meaning for métier , referring…

People in this episode

Host: Merriam-Webster

Topics covered

  • language
  • vocabulary
  • French words
  • careers
  • skills

Keywords

  • métier
  • vocabulary
  • language
  • career
  • skills
  • French words
  • English language

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Conversation

More episodes of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day podcast page.