These words refer to someone who has not yet acquired the skills and experience that are required to qualify him in a given field. Beginner is the most informal of these words and is the least negative in tone, suggesting someone who has already started to acquire the necessary abilities but has not worked long enough to master them; the word may imply a young person, but this is not necessarily so: a ballet class for adult beginners ; piano lessons for children and beginners . Apprentice most concretely refers to a young person taken on by a master to be taught the skills of a trade: the apprentice who becomes a qualified tradesman. In broader uses, the word refers to any beginner, often with an emphasis on his low or menial position or lack of polish: a writer whose first book reveals him to be an apprentice rather than a mature artist.

Both novice and neophyte , but especially the former, may refer to a newly introduced member of a religious order. In broader contexts, both are less factual and more uncomplimentary. Novice in this case may suggest clumsiness due to lack of training or even to an amateurish lack of discipline or application: light meters made so that even the rankest novice can use them; a novice whose canvases show the lowest possible standards and the worst set of influences. Neophyte may be used somewhat less negatively than novice , especially since it implies an eagerness to learn and a humble respect for an seeking out of knowledgeable authority: the neophytes who clustered around the established poet in hopes of catching some pearl of wisdom he seemed always on the verge of dropping.

Tyro (also tiro) is perhaps the most negative of these words in that it refers to an inexperienced and amateurish approach to a complicated field, suggesting a raw or young recruit who has yet to begin the task of mastering his craft: the tyro who has taken one or two survey courses in literature and proceeds to write critical reviews for his school paper.