Druid
noun ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 One of an order of priests among certain groups of Celts before the adoption of Abrahamic religions. historical
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of druid. alt-of
"You can find hundreds of Druids at Stonehenge."
- 3 a pre-Christian priest among the Celts of ancient Gaul and Britain and Ireland wordnet
- 4 A priest or mage who uses magic based on nature or trees.
- 5 A member of a benefit society founded in 1781, the Ancient Order of Druids.
Example
More examples"You can find hundreds of Druids at Stonehenge."
Etymology
Borrowed from French druide, from Old French, via Latin Druidae, from Gaulish *druwits, from Proto-Celtic *druwits (literally either “oak-knower” or “firm knower, great sage”), from either Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree”) or *drew- (“solid, firm, hard”) and *weyd- (“to see, to have knowledge”) (whence also English wizard; Proto-Slavic *vědьma (> Russian ве́дьма (védʹma))). The earliest record of the term in Latin is by Julius Caesar in the first century B.C. in his De Bello Gallico. The native Celtic word for "druid" is first attested in Latin texts as druides (plural) and other texts also employ the form druidae (akin to the Greek form). Cognate with the later insular Celtic words, Old Irish druí (“druid, sorcerer”) and early Welsh dryw (“seer”).
Related phrases
More for "druid"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.