Agency Dictionary
Alchemist
nounPronunciation: /ˈæl.kə.mɪst/
In Portuguese: Alquimista
Spirituality & Myth
History & CivilizationsWhat does “Alchemist” mean?
A practitioner of alchemy, seeking to transmute base metals into noble elements and discover a universal cure.
Etymology
From Old French alquemiste and Medieval Latin alchimista, from alchimia, "alchemy", borrowed from Arabic al-kimiya, in which al- is the definite article. The Arabic word came from late Greek khemeia or khymeia, the art of transmuting metals, whose own origin is disputed: it has been linked to Khemia, an old name for Egypt, and to Greek khymeia, "a pouring, an infusion". Chemist and chemistry are later forms of the same word without the Arabic article.
Often confused with
- chemist
- The chemist practises the modern experimental science; the alchemist belongs to the older art from which chemistry separated in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Word family
- alchemy
- alchemical
- alchemize
- chemistry
- chemist
Usage examples
Nowadays people call him a mere alchemist but he paved most of the way to the medicine box you have in your home today.
Source editions
Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.
Words of the same theme
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