The word “carpenter” is the English rendering of the Old French word carpentier (later, charpentier) which is derived from the Latin carpentarius , “(maker) of a carriage.” The Middle English and Scots word (in the sense of “builder”) was wright (from the Old English wryhta, cognate with work), which could be used in compound forms such as wheelwright or boatwright.
In the UK, carpentry is more correctly used to describe the skill involved in first fixing of timber items such as construction of roofs, floors and timber framed buildings, i.e. those areas of construction that are normally hidden in a finished building. An easy way to envisage this is that first fix work is all that is done before plastering takes place. The second fix is done after plastering takes place. Second fix work, the installation of items such as skirting boards, architraves, doors, and windows are generally regarded as carpentry, however, the off-site manufacture and pre-finishing of the items is regarded as joinery. Carpentry is also used to construct the formwork into which concrete is poured during the building of structures such as roads and highway overpasses. In the UK, the skill of making timber formwork for poured or in situ concrete is referred to as shuttering.

Carpentry in the United States is historically defined similarly to the United Kingdom as the “heavier and stronger” work distinguished from a joiner “...who does lighter and more ornamental work than that of a carpenter...” although the “...work of a carpenter and joiner are often combined.” Joiner is less common than the terms finish carpenter or cabinetmaker. The terms housewright and barn right were used historically., now occasionally used by carpenters who work using traditional methods and materials. Someone who builds custom concrete formwork is a form carpenter.
Wood is one of mankind's oldest building materials. The ability to shape wood improved with technological advances from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. Some of the oldest archaeological evidence of carpentry are water well casings. These include an oak and hazel structure dating from 5256 BC, found in Ostrov, Czech Republic, and one built using split oak timbers with mortise and tenon and notched corners excavated in eastern Germany, dating from about 7,000 years ago in the early Neolithic period.