pedant

See also pédant, and Pedant

English

Etymology

From Middle French pedant, pedante, from Italian pedante (“a teacher, schoolmaster, pedant”), of uncertain origin, traced by some sources to Latin paedagogans, present participle of paedagogare ( = to teach, from Greek "paedagogein" = to instruct children ). Confer French pédant.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pĕdʹənt, IPA: /ˈpɛdənt/, SAMPA: /"pEd@nt/

Noun

pedant (plural pedants)

1. (obsolete) A teacher or schoolmaster.
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, vol. 1 ch. 24:

     I have in my youth oftentimes beene vexed to see a Pedant [tr. pedante] brought in, in most of Italian comedies, for a vice or sport-maker, and the nicke-name of Magister to be of no better signification amongst us.

2. A person who is overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning.
3. A person who emphasizes his/her knowledge through the use of vocabulary.

Related terms

• pedantic
• pedantry

Usage notes

• Do not confuse pedant with pendant or pennant.

Translations

person overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning

Chinese: 夫子 (fūzǐ) Czech: pedant (cs) m. Danish: pedant (da) Dutch: wijsneus (nl) m. and f., weetal (nl) m. and f. Esperanto: pedanto (eo) Estonian: pedant (et), juuksekarvalõhestaja (et), tähenärija (et) Finnish: saivartelija (fi), viisastelija (fi), pedantti (fi) French: pédant (fr) m. German: Pedant m., Pedantin f.

Greek: σχολαστικός (el) m. Icelandic: uppfullur af lærdómshroka (is) m., uppfull af lærdómshroka (is) f., smámunasamur maður (is) m., smámunasöm kona (is) f. Ido: pedanto (io) Japanese: 衒学者 Korean: 공론가 (gong ron ga) Latvian: pedants  (lv) Lithuanian: pedantas (lt) Macedonian: педант (mk) Russian: педант (ru) (pedánt) Spanish: pedante (es) m.

person who emphasizes his/her knowledge through the use of vocabulary

Finnish: viisastelija (fi), saivartelija (fi)

See also

• Pedant on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Pedant in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.

External links

• pedant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• pedant in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• pedant at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• panted
• pentad

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Latin

Verb

pedant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of pedō