Glossary
Painter Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential painter terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key painter vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in painter training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Airless sprayer
- A sprayer that pumps paint at high pressure through a small tip.
- Back-rolling
- Rolling over sprayed paint to work it into the surface.
- Caulk
- A flexible sealant used to fill gaps and joints.
- Coverage
- How much area a gallon of paint covers.
- Cutting in
- Painting a clean edge along ceilings, corners and trim with a brush.
- Feathering
- Blending a patch or edge so it disappears.
- Lap marks
- Visible lines where wet paint overlaps dried paint.
- Lead-safe work practices
- Methods that limit dust when disturbing old lead-based paint.
- Mil gauge
- A tool that measures wet film thickness of a coating.
- Mil thickness
- Coating thickness in thousandths of an inch, measured in industrial work.
- Primer
- A base coat that seals surfaces and helps paint adhere.
- Sheen
- How shiny paint is, from flat to gloss.
- Spackle
- A compound used to fill small holes and cracks.
- VOC
- Volatile organic compounds: solvents released as paint dries.
- Wet edge
- Keeping the edge of fresh paint wet to avoid lap marks.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Painter practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Painter training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.