The word
amateur
is normally used to mean: somebody who does something (e.g. a job) without being paid for it.
The opposite of an amateur is a
professional
. He (or she) will expect to be paid a professional
fee
for the job.
The word “amateur” comes from a
French
word meaning: "lover of". An amateur is someone who does something (e.g. play the
piano
,
football
) because they enjoy doing it. They are not doing it in order to be paid. It is not how they earn money to live.
People often forget the real meaning of the word “amateur”. It is often mistakenly used to mean: someone who is not good at something. On the other hand, an amateur might be described as having done a very “professional” job, i.e. done it as well as someone who is paid.
Although one might expect a professional to be better than an amateur, this is not always the case. Someone might be a very good amateur pianist, possibly better than some professionals.
In some jobs it would be impossible for amateurs to be allowed to work. One cannot have amateur
doctors
or
lawyers
. In some areas, however, amateurs have been very useful in fields including
computer programming
and
astronomy
and
birdwatching
.
Wikipedia
, for example, is written by amateurs.
In some
sporting
events, all players are professional or all are amateur. Many events mix professional and amateur participants.
In some sports (e.g. tennis or
football
) in the past, amateurs and professionals would not compete against one another. This was not always because amateurs were thought to be not as good as professionals. In some countries, such as
Great Britain
in
Victorian times
, this was because of
social class
distinction. Amateur
cricketers
were rich
gentlemen
from the upper classes who did not want to associate with people from lower classes. This attitude slowly changed during the
20th century
.
Until the 1970s most
Olympic events
were for amateurs. Athletes were disqualified if they received money for the event, or in some cases even if they had been paid for sporting events outside the Olympics.