wizard

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A person, usually a man, who has magical powers, especially in stories.

   The wizard waved his staff and conjured a ball of fire.

2. 2
   noun

   A person who is extremely skilled at something.

   He was a financial wizard who could predict the markets.

3. 3
   noun

   A computer program that guides a user through a task in simple steps.

   Use the setup wizard to connect to the network.

From Middle English wysard, wysarde, equivalent to wise + -ard. A uniquely medieval Anglo-Saxon word with no known morphologically exact cognates inside the Germanic family; did not gain distinct sense of "occultist, magic user" (as opposed to a philosopher or sage) until circa 1500s, aligning roughly with the starting English Renaissance. However, via Proto-Indo-European *weyd- cognate with Proto-Celtic *druwits (whence English druid), Proto-Slavic *vědьma (Polish wiedźma, Russian ве́дьма (védʹma)), Russian веду́н (vedún)). The sense of "old (male) virgin" is from a Japanese Internet meme whe…

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