Tradespeople are workers who have learned specialized skills through hands-on training and practice, usually in fields that involve building, fixing, or maintaining things. Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, welders, and auto mechanics are all tradespeople. Unlike jobs that require years of college study, trades are typically learned through apprenticeships, where beginners work alongside experienced professionals to master their craft.

These skills take real expertise. A plumber needs to understand how water pressure works and how pipes connect throughout a building. An electrician must know how electricity flows safely through circuits. A carpenter has to measure precisely and understand how different woods behave. Each trade involves both knowledge and physical skill developed over years of practice.

Tradespeople are essential to how modern life works. When your school's heating system breaks in winter, a tradesperson fixes it. When a new house gets built, teams of tradespeople work together: electricians run the wiring, plumbers install the pipes, carpenters frame the walls, and roofers seal the top. Without skilled tradespeople, buildings wouldn't get built, cars wouldn't get repaired, and broken water heaters would stay broken.

The word is sometimes spelled as two words: trade people or trades people. A single worker might be called a tradesperson or, more traditionally, a tradesman or tradeswoman.