Trainee

'treɪniː

nounBeginner📊CommonOccupation
1 meaning2 questions

Definitions

1

A person who is being taught a skill or job.

'treɪniː

nounneutralBeginner
Occupation

A person who is being taught the skills of a particular job or profession.

The new trainees will start next week.

💡 Simply: Imagine you're learning to ride a bike. You're a trainee until you get good at it! A trainee at a company is just learning the job.

👶 For kids: A trainee is someone who is learning a new job or skill, like when you learn how to ride a bike!

More Examples

2

She's a trainee accountant, learning the ropes.

3

All the trainees attended the workshop.

How It's Used

Business

"The company runs a comprehensive trainee program."

Education

"Medical trainees learn under the supervision of experienced doctors."

From 'train' + '-ee', denoting a person undergoing training. 'Train' itself comes from Old French 'tra(h)iner' meaning 'to drag, pull'.

The term 'trainee' became particularly common in the 20th century with the rise of structured corporate training programs.

Memory tip

Think of a trainee as someone in *training* - they are learning!

Word Origin

LanguageOld French
Original meaning

"to draw, pull, drag (train)"

new traineetrainee programtrainee positionmanagement trainee

Common misspellings

treineetrainietrainnee

Usage

60%Spoken
40%Written