sorcerer

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈsɔrsərɚ/ UK /ˈsɔːsərə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a person who practices magic by controlling evil spirits or supernatural powers

The sorcerer summoned a storm with a single muttered incantation.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who practices... wizard magician warlock enchanter conjurer necromancer mage

Word family

Forms sorceress

Derived forms sorceresssorcery

Related forms sorcery sorcerous

Simplified etymology

Sorcerer, earlier sorser, came through Old French sorcier from Latin sors “lot” or “fortune.” The development reflects the use of oracles and cast lots to foretell the future.

Etymology

From Old French sorcier ('sorcerer'), from Vulgar Latin *sortiarius ('one who casts lots, teller of fortunes'), from Latin sors, sortis ('lot, fate, fortune').

sorcier Old French sors Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# sorcerer

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈsɔrsərɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsɔːsərə/

## Meanings
1. a person who practices magic by controlling evil spirits or supernatural powers

## Examples
- The sorcerer summoned a storm with a single muttered incantation.

## Synonyms
- wizard
- magician
- warlock
- enchanter
- conjurer
- necromancer
- mage

## Derived Forms
- sorceress
- sorcery

## Related Forms
- sorcery
- sorcerous

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sorcier
- Root: sors

## Etymology
From Old French sorcier ('sorcerer'), from Vulgar Latin *sortiarius ('one who casts lots, teller of fortunes'), from Latin sors, sortis ('lot, fate, fortune').

## AI Etymology
Sorcerer comes from Old French sorcier ('sorcerer'), from Vulgar Latin *sortiarius ('one who casts lots, teller of fortunes'), from Latin sors, sortis ('lot, fate, fortune'). The historical chain includes Old French sorcier and Latin sors. The quoted older senses, "sorcerer", "one who casts lots, teller of fortunes", and "lot, fate, fortune", supply the semantic anchors for sorcerer. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word sorcerer carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a person who practices magic by controlling evil spirits or supernatural powers". English derivatives include sorceress and sorcery; related English forms include sorcery and sorcerous. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown