What does "connoisseur" mean?

A specialist in a given field whose opinion is highly valued, especially in one of the fine arts or in matters of taste.

Connoisseur

Common synonyms include: cognoscente, cognoscente, accumulator, adept, admirable crichton, aesthete.

//ˌkɑnəˈsɝ// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Noun

1
A specialist in a given field whose opinion is highly valued, especially in one of the fine arts or in matters of taste.
"beer connoisseur"
2
an expert able to appreciate a field; especially in the fine arts wordnet

"A bargain! For the true connoisseur!"

Around 1705–1715, from French connoisseur, from the verb connoître (obsolete pre-1835 spelling of connaître (“to know”)).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.