Shaman
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A traditional faith healer.
- 2 in societies practicing shamanism: one acting as a medium between the visible and spirit worlds; practices sorcery for healing or divination wordnet
- 3 A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds; sometimes also a healer.
"Near-synonyms: medicine man, medicine woman, priest-doctor, witch doctor"
Example
More examples"At the beginning of civilization, the crazy man, the shaman, ate grass on the river bank and pulled his hair out. Now today, the same madman blabbers on his cellphone about crypto-currency, buys a scone at Starbucks for $4.35, and his hair falls out on its own."
Etymology
Borrowed from German Schamane, from Russian шама́н (šamán), from Evenki шама̄н (şamān), сама̄н (samān), from Proto-Tungusic *samān. The Evenki word is possibly derived from the root ша- (şa-, “to know”); or else a loanword from Tocharian B ṣamāne (“monk”) or Chinese 沙門 /沙门 (shāmén, “Buddhist monk”), from Pali samaṇa from Sanskrit श्रमण (śramaṇa, “ascetic, monk, devotee”), from श्रम (śrama, “weariness, exhaustion; labor, toil; etc.”), which would make this a doublet of sramana.
Related phrases
More for "shaman"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.