Mage

How to spell mage

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce mage

What does mage mean?

1. nounA magician, wizard, or learned practitioner of magic, especially in stories and games.

Mage in a sentence

• The young mage memorised a new spell before the battle.

• In the novel, an ageing mage guards the hidden library of secrets.

Where does mage come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin magus, meaning 'a member of a learned priestly class' or 'a magician', which Latin itself borrowed from the Greek magos. The Greek term in turn came from Old Persian magu, the name for the priestly caste of ancient Persia who were credited with astrology and secret knowledge; the same root gives us 'magic' and 'magician', and the 'Magi' who appear in the nativity story. English took 'mage' in during the late Middle Ages, around the 1300s, by way of Old French, as a poetic word for a wise man or sorcerer. For centuries it was largely archaic and literary, surviving in older poetry, before being revived in modern fantasy fiction and role-playing games as the standard label for a spellcaster. The soft 'g' sound and the silent final 'e' both trace back to its passage through French, which is the small spelling detail worth fixing in memory.

How the word is built

• mag- (from Latin magus: a learned magician or wise man)
• -e (silent final spelling)