druid
Plural: druids
Noun
- A priest, magician, or soothsayer in ancient Celtic religion.
- a pre-Christian priest among the Celts of ancient Gaul and Britain and Ireland
- One of an order of priests among certain groups of Celts before the adoption of Abrahamic religions.
- A priest or mage who uses magic based on nature or trees.
Examples
- He channeled his inner druid to conjure up a winning word from seemingly random letters.
Origin / Etymology
Borrowed from French druide, from Old French, via Latin Druidae, from Gaulish *druwits, from Proto-Celtic *druwits (literally either “oak-knower” or “firm knower, great sage”), from either Proto-Indo-European *dóru (“tree”) or *drew- (“solid, firm, hard”) and *weyd- (“to see, to have knowledge”) (whence also English wizard; Proto-Slavic *vědьma (> Russian ве́дьма (védʹma))).
The earliest record of the term in Latin is by Julius Caesar in the first century B.C. in his De Bello Gallico. The native Celtic word for "druid" is first attested in Latin texts as druides (plural) and other texts also employ the form druidae (akin to the Greek form). Cognate with the later insular Celtic words, Old Irish druí (“druid, sorcerer”) and early Welsh dryw (“seer”).
Scrabble Score: 7
druid: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Worddruid: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
druid: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary