Sorcerer
nounA person who claims or is believed to practise magic by calling on supernatural powers.
How to spell sorcerer
8 letters · 3 syllables
How to pronounce sorcerer
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does sorcerer mean?
- nounA person who claims or is believed to practise magic by calling on supernatural powers.
Sorcerer in a sentence
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The novel follows a young sorcerer who learns to control fire.
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In the legend, a powerful sorcerer cursed the entire village.
Where does sorcerer come from?
Language of origin: French
The word traces back to the Latin noun sors, with the stem sort-, meaning a 'lot' or a 'share', the kind of marked token drawn at random to decide an outcome or read a fortune. From this came the Late Latin sortiarius, literally someone who tells fortunes by casting lots. That term passed into Old French as sorcier, a practitioner of magic, and English borrowed it in the 1300s, adding the familiar agent ending to give 'sorcerer'. The same Latin sors lies behind everyday words such as 'sort' and 'assort', and the more direct 'sortilege', the practice of divination by lots. The tricky spelling, with its run of soft c and the doubled -erer ending, reflects that layered journey from a word about drawing lots rather than about spells.
How the word is built
- sorcer- (from Old French sorcier: one who casts lots, fortune-teller)
- -er (agent suffix denoting a person who does something)
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