pedagogue

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a teacher, especially one who is strict, formal, or old-fashioned

   The novel portrays the schoolmaster as a stern but conscientious pedagogue.

2. 2
   noun

   a pedantic or dogmatic teacher

   He lectured like a humorless pedagogue instead of inviting discussion.

3. 3
   noun

   in ancient Greece and Rome, a slave who escorted and supervised a child; historical

   The household pedagogue accompanied the boy to his lessons.

Through French and Latin from Greek paidagogos, literally 'child-leader,' formed from pais, 'child,' + agogos, 'leader.' In antiquity it named the attendant who conducted a child to school; English later applied it to teachers, sometimes disparagingly.

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