wizard

wizard

English

Etymology

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 in which virgins who are typically friendless, shy outcasts and loners who don't fit in anywhere legendarily gain magical powers upon reaching 30 years of age; popularized ultimately by 4chan and adjacent online incel spaces.

Compare typologically specialist (<< Latin speciō).

Pronunciation

Noun

wizard (plural wizards)

  1. Someone, usually male, who uses (or has skill with) magic, mystic items, and magical and mystical practices.
    Synonyms: conjurer, mage, magician, magic user, mystic, sorcerer, warlock, witch
    The wizard conjured up a large fireball.
    • 1697, John Dryden, Translation of Virgil's Georgics:
      The wily wizard must be caught.
    • 2016 February 2, Diane Duane, Games Wizards Play, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN:
      He found himself watching a couple of wizards doing what he at first mistook for the beginning of a dance, and then for a session of tai chi. But suddenly he realized they were signing.
    • 2021 November 1, Dale Stubbart, The Wizard Without a Wand, Dale Stubbart:
      But that's not what will make her a powerful wizard – more powerful than me, more powerful than Leesha, even more powerful than you.
  2. One who is especially skilled or unusually talented in a particular field.
    Synonyms: expert, genius, prodigy
    He was a financial wizard, capable of predicting the movements of the stock markets.
  3. (computing) A computer program or script used to simplify complex operations, often for an inexperienced user.
    Synonym: assistant
    Use the "Add Network Connection" wizard to connect to a network in a series of simple steps.
    • 2010 September 17, Bill Evjen, Christian Nagel, Rod Stephens, Robert Vieira, Nick Randolph, .NET 4 Wrox PDF Bundle: Professional ASP.NET 4, Professional C# 4, VB 2010 Programmer's Ref, WPF Programmer's Ref, Professional Visual Studio 2010, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 169:
      Figure 10-10 shows a typical wizard. The user enters data in New Employee on each tab and then moves on to the next one. This wizard asks […]
  4. (Internet) An administrator of a multi-user dungeon, or someone who has earned similar rights through gameplay; a user in wizard mode.
    • 1997, Philip Agre and Douglas Schuler, Reinventing Technology, Rediscovering Community: Critical Explorations of Computing as a Social Practice, page 153:
      Wizards, in general, have a very different experience of mudding than other players. Because of their palpable and extensive extra powers over other players, and because of their special role in MUD society, they are frequently treated differently […]
    • 1997, Sara Kiesler, editor, Culture of the Internet, page 132:
      It is certainly easy to believe the stories I hear of MUD wizards who demand deference and severely punish those who transgress […]
  5. (obsolete) A wise man; a sage.
  6. (incel slang, sometimes humorous) A virgin over the age of 30 who does not socialize and thus cannot find a sexual partner.
    • 2014 September 23, Joe Zadeh, quoting Jon Rafman, “"Musician rebels embrace darknet to explore uncensored internet frontiers”, in Guardian:
      “I see this image of the basement-dwelling wizard who rejects societal conventions to such an extreme degree as one of the tragic heroes of our times.”
    • 2018 April 25, Zoe Williams, “‘Raw hatred’: why the 'incel' movement targets and terrorises women”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      The incels’ folk hero is the 30-year-old virgin wizard – if you can make it to 30 without having sex, you will be endowed with magical powers. And the threads are so pathetic that it is hard to feel anything but ambient pity (on the site Wiz Chan – subtitle “disregard females, acquire magic” – one thread titled How do I live in my sedan? is like a short story).
    • 2018 April 25, Oli Dugmore, “What is an incel? A former member of the internet subculture explains”, in JOE‎[2]:
      Incels are mostly losers who don’t get laid — involuntarily celibate. Basically it’s a giant pity party that started on the 4chan board R9K. R9K is a board on 4chan where inceldom started. They have their own terms and stuff like that. For example if you’re over 30 and still a virgin they call you a "Wizard."

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Adjective

wizard (not comparable)

  1. (slang, dated, British) Fine, superb (originally RAF slang).
    • 1942, Quentin James Reynolds, Only the Stars are Neutral:
      "We had a wizard show," the young leader of an Australian squadron said, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.
    • 1943, Howard Macy Coffin and Walter Leslie River, Malta Story:
      But he was a wizard flyer, that boy.

Verb

wizard (third-person singular simple present wizards, present participle wizarding, simple past and past participle wizarded)

  1. (intransitive) To practice wizardry.
  2. (transitive) To conjure.
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