Cabinetmaking is a compound of cabinet + making; cabinet is from French cabinet ('small room'), diminutive of cabine, perhaps from Italian gabbinetto, ultimately related to cabin. The historical trail runs through cabinet in French. Morphologically, cabinetmaking is transparent: it is a compound of cabinet + making. Used as a noun, cabinetmaking now means "the craft of making fine wooden furniture and cabinets", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as cabinet, making, and cabinetmaker. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.