Etymologist

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A lexicographer or linguist who specializes in etymology (the origins of words).

    "This was the first time that James had met with one of the bogus etymologists common at that period, who believed that the derivation of a word could be solved by finding any foreign word that sounded something like it."

  2. 2
    a lexicographer who specializes in etymology wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
grammarianlexicographerlexicologistlinguistphilologistphonetician

Example

More examples

"This was the first time that James had met with one of the bogus etymologists common at that period, who believed that the derivation of a word could be solved by finding any foreign word that sounded something like it."

Etymology

From etymology + -ist.

Related phrases

folk etymologist

More for "etymologist"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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