noun
Meaning 1
A lover of wisdom.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: originally
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: misosopher
Standard Lemma guide
philosopher
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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UK: /fɪˈlɒs.ə.fə(ɹ)/
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US: /fəˈlɑsəfɚ/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Mid-Atlantic, US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: F AH0 L AA1 S AH0 F ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A student of philosophy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A scholar or expert engaged in or contributing to philosophical inquiry.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A person who applies the principles of philosophy to the conduct of their life, as by acting calmly and rationally in the face of inevitable change.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A student, scholar, or expert in any branch of knowledge, especially those branches studied prior to being considered part of pure science.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
An alchemist.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
a specialist in philosophy
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: scholar, scholarly person, bookman, student
Narrower terms: nativist, Cynic, eclectic, eclecticist, empiricist, epistemologist, esthetician, aesthetician, ethicist, ethician, existentialist, existentialist philosopher, existential philosopher, gymnosophist, libertarian, mechanist, moralist, naturalist, necessitarian, nominalist, pluralist, pre-Socratic, realist, Scholastic, Sophist, Stoic, transcendentalist, yogi, Popper, Karl Popper, Sir Karl Raimund Popper, Abelard, Peter Abelard, Pierre Abelard, Anaxagoras, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Arendt, Hannah Arendt, Aristotle, Averroes, ibn-Roshd, Abul-Walid Mohammed ibn-Ahmad Ibn-Mohammed ibn-Roshd, Avicenna, ibn-Sina, Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina, Bacon, Francis Bacon, Sir Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, 1st Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, Bentham, Jeremy Bentham, Bergson, Henri Bergson, Henri Louis Bergson, Berkeley, Bishop Berkeley, George Berkeley, Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, Bruno, Giordano Bruno, Buber, Martin Buber, Cassirer, Ernst Cassirer, Cleanthes, Comte, Auguste Comte, Isidore Auguste Marie Francois Comte, Condorcet, Marquis de Condorcet, Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat, Confucius, Kongfuze, K'ung Futzu, Kong the Master, Democritus, Derrida, Jacques Derrida, Descartes, Rene Descartes, Dewey, John Dewey, Diderot, Denis Diderot, Diogenes, Empedocles, Epictetus, Epicurus, Haeckel, Ernst Heinrich Haeckel, Hartley, David Hartley, Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Heraclitus, Herbart, Johann Friedrich Herbart, Herder, Johann Gottfried von Herder, Hobbes, Thomas Hobbes, Hume, David Hume, Husserl, Edmund Husserl, Hypatia, James, William James, Kant, Immanuel Kant, Kierkegaard, Soren Kierkegaard, Soren Aabye Kierkegaard, Lao-tzu, Lao-tse, Lao-zi, Leibniz, Leibnitz, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz, Locke, John Locke, Lucretius, Titus Lucretius Carus, Lully, Raymond Lully, Ramon Lully, Mach, Ernst Mach, Machiavelli, Niccolo Machiavelli, Maimonides, Moses Maimonides, Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon, Malebranche, Nicolas de Malebranche, Marcuse, Herbert Marcuse, Marx, Karl Marx, Mead, George Herbert Mead, Mill, John Mill, John Stuart Mill, James Mill, Montesquieu, Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu, Charles Louis de Secondat, Moore, G. E. Moore, George Edward Moore, Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Occam, William of Occam, Ockham, William of Ockham, Origen, Ortega y Gasset, Jose Ortega y Gasset, Parmenides, Pascal, Blaise Pascal, Peirce, Charles Peirce, Charles Sanders Peirce, Perry, Ralph Barton Perry, Plato, Plotinus, Pythagoras, Quine, W. V. Quine, Willard Van Orman Quine, Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Reid, Thomas Reid, Rousseau, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Russell, Bertrand Russell, Bertrand Arthur William Russell, Earl Russell, Schopenhauer, Arthur Schopenhauer, Schweitzer, Albert Schweitzer, Seneca, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Socrates, Spencer, Herbert Spencer, Spengler, Oswald Spengler, Spinoza, de Spinoza, Baruch de Spinoza, Benedict de Spinoza, Steiner, Rudolf Steiner, Stewart, Dugald Stewart, Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore, Sir Rabindranath Tagore, Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Thales, Thales of Miletus, Theophrastus, Weil, Simone Weil, Whitehead, Alfred North Whitehead, Williams, Sir Bernard Williams, Bernard Arthur Owen Williams, Wittgenstein, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Ludwig Josef Johan Wittgenstein, Xenophanes, Zeno, Zeno of Citium, Zeno of Elea
noun
Meaning 8
a wise person who is calm and rational; someone who lives a life of reason with equanimity
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, soul
History
Etymology
From Middle English philosophre, from Anglo-Norman or Middle French philosophe, from Latin philosophus, from Ancient Greek φιλόσοφος (philósophos, literally “lover of wisdom”) + -er. Credited as having been coined by Pythagoras to describe himself. Displaced native Old English ūþwita.
Across languages
Translations
148 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Afrikaans: filosoof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Albanian: filozof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Albanian: filozofe — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Albanian: i dashuni i giξe tditunavet — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Amharic: ፈላስፋ (fälasfa) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Arabic: فَيْلَسُوف (faylasūf) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Aragonese: filosofo — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Armenian: փիլիսոփա (pʻilisopʻa) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Aromanian: filuzof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Aromanian: filuzoafã — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Aromanian: filuzofã — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Aromanian: filuzofe — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Aromanian: filusof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Aromanian: filusoafã — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Aromanian: filusofã — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Aromanian: filusofe — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Asturian: filósofu — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Azerbaijani: filosof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Belarusian: філо́саф (filósaf) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Belarusian: філёзаф (filjózaf) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Bengali: দার্শনিক (darśonik) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Bulgarian: филосо́ф (filosóf) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Catalan: filòsof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Catalan: filòsofa — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Chinese Cantonese: 哲學家 /哲学家 (zit3 hok6 gaa1) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Chinese Mandarin: 哲學家 /哲学家 (zhéxuéjiā) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Coptic: ⲫⲓⲗⲟⲥⲟⲫⲟⲥ (philosophos) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Crimean Tatar: felsefeci — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Czech: filozof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Czech: filozofka — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Czech: filosof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Czech: filosofka — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Czech: mudrc — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Danish: filosof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Dutch: filosoof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Dutch: filosofe — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Dutch: wijsgeer — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Esperanto: filozofo — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Estonian: filosoof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Faroese: heimspekingur — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Finnish: filosofi — person devoted to studying philosophy
- French: philosophe — person devoted to studying philosophy
- West-Frisian: filosoof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- West-Frisian: wiisgear — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Galician: filósofa — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Galician: filósofo — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Georgian: ფილოსოფოსი (pilosoposi) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- German: Philosoph — person devoted to studying philosophy
- German: Philosophin — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Bavarian German: Philosoph — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Greek: φιλόσοφος (filósofos) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Ancient Greek: φιλόσοφος (philósophos) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Haitian Creole: filozòf — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Hebrew: פִילוֹסוֹף (filosof) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Hebrew: הוֹגֵה דֵּעוֹת (hogé de'ót) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Hindi: दार्शनिक (dārśanik) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Hungarian: filozófus — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Icelandic: heimspekingur — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Ido: filozofo — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Indonesian: filsuf — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Indonesian: ahli pikir — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Interlingua: philosopho — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Irish: fealsamh — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Middle Irish: fellsam — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Old Irish: felsub — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Italian: filosofo — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Italian: filosofa — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Japanese: 哲学者 (tetsugakusha) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Kashubian: filozof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Kashubian: filozofka — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Kazakh: пәлсапашы (pälsapaşy) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Kazakh: философ (filosof) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Khmer: ទស្សនវិទូ (tŭəhsaʼnaʼ vituu) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Khmer: ចិន្តបណ្ឌិត (centaʼbɑndɨt) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Korean: 철학자 (cheolhakja) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Northern Kurdish: fîlozof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Kyrgyz: философ (filosof) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Lao: ນັກປາດ (nak pāt) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Latin: philosophus — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Latvian: filozofs — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Lithuanian: filosofas — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Luxembourgish: Philosoph — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Macedonian: филозо́ф (filozóf) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Malay: ahli falsafah — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Malay: ahli fikir — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Malay: filsuf — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Maltese: filosfu — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Maltese: filosfa — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Mongolian: философич (filosofič) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Norwegian Bokmål: filosof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Norwegian Nynorsk: filosof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Occitan: filosòf — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Occitan: filosòfa — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Church Slavic: философъ (filosofŭ) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Old English: ūþwita — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Pashto: فيلسوف (faylasūf) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Persian: فیلسوف (filsuf) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Polish: filozof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Polish: filozofka — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Polish: mędrzec — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Portuguese: filósofo — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Portuguese: filósofa — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Quechua: yachay wayllukuq — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Romanian: filozof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Romanian: filozoafă — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Russian: фило́соф (filósof) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Scottish Gaelic: feallsanach — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Serbo-Croatian: фило̀зоф — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Serbo-Croatian: фило̀зофкиња — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Serbo-Croatian: filòzof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Serbo-Croatian: filòzofkinja — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Slovak: filozof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Slovak: filozofka — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Slovene: filozof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Slovene: filozofinja — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Upper Sorbian: filozofka — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Upper Sorbian: filozof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Spanish: filósofo — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Spanish: filósofa — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Swahili: mwanafalsafa — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Swedish: filosof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Tagalog: batnayanon — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Tagalog: pilosopo — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Tajik: файласуф (faylasuf) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Tajik: хирадварз (xiradvarz) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Tajik: философ (filosof) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Tatar: фәлсәфәче (fälsäfäçe) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Tatar: философ (filosof) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Thai: นักปราชญ์ (nák-bpràat) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Thai: นักปรัชญา (nák-bpràt-yaa) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Tocharian B: pälskauca — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Turkish: felsefeci — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Turkish: filozof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Turkmen: filosof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Ukrainian: філо́соф (filósof) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Urdu: فَلْسَفی (falsafī) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Uyghur: پەيلاسوپ (peylasop) — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Uzbek: faylasuf — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Uzbek: filosof — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Vietnamese: nhà triết học — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Vietnamese: triết gia — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Vietnamese: triết nhân — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Vietnamese: nhà hiền triết — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Volapük: filosopan — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Volapük: hifilosopan — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Volapük: jifilosopan — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Walloon: filozofe — person devoted to studying philosophy
- Yiddish: פֿילאָסאָףֿ (filosof) — person devoted to studying philosophy
Real reading context