Enthusiast

How to spell enthusiast

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce enthusiast

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does enthusiast mean?

1. nounA person who is intensely and happily interested in a particular subject or activity.

Enthusiast in a sentence

• As a lifelong jazz enthusiast, he owns thousands of vinyl records.

• The cycling club welcomes every enthusiast regardless of skill.

Where does enthusiast come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word descends from the Greek enthousiastes, meaning a person who is inspired or possessed by a god, built on enthousiazein 'to be inspired', which in turn rests on entheos, literally 'having a god within', from en 'in' and theos 'god'. In its earliest religious sense it described someone seized by divine frenzy or prophetic fervour. It entered English in the early 1600s, often with a faintly disapproving edge, describing people thought to be carried away by excessive or unfounded religious zeal. Over the following centuries the religious sting faded, and the word softened into its modern, friendly meaning: a person who is keenly devoted to a hobby or interest. The hidden 'h' after the 't', a leftover of the Greek theos, is the main spelling trap, since the sound it represents has all but vanished in speech.

How the word is built

• en- (in)
• thus- (from Greek theos: god)
• -iast (agent noun suffix)