aficionado
Americannoun
plural
aficionadosnoun
-
an ardent supporter or devotee
a jazz aficionado
-
a devotee of bullfighting
Etymology
Origin of aficionado
First recorded in 1835–45; from Spanish: literally, “amateur,” past participle -ado ( see -ate 1) of aficionar “to engender affection,” equivalent to afición affection 1 + -ar infinitive suffix
Explanation
If you really like something and make it your business to study up on its history and characteristics, you could be called an aficionado of that subject. This sort of funny-looking word might seem like it needs a second “f,” but it really doesn’t, and you should hold out on the temptation to add another one. (The single “f” spelling is a result of the word’s Spanish heritage.) The word aficionado implies serious study and fervent interest, but you can think of it as just a fancy way to say fan. You could call yourself a football aficionado, for example, if you think that sounds more impressive than just saying you’re a football fan.
Vocabulary lists containing aficionado
This Week in Words: September 22 - 28, 2018
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The Night Circus
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the March/April 2000 issue of Cigar Aficionado, Buckley called Mr. Trump a “narcissist.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026
Aficionado began working for West in October 2022 as a project manager.
From Salon • Nov. 15, 2024
“I’m certainly working harder now than ever. Certain businesses, you kind of build them, pass them on or you exit,” he told Cigar Aficionado.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 19, 2023
In 1999, in an interview with Cigar Aficionado, he said, simply, “Every role is a character role.”
From Seattle Times • Apr. 10, 2023
“I really love what I do,” Mr. Koppelman, taking a puff from a Cohiba Esplendido, told Cigar Aficionado magazine in 1993, when he was the chairman and chief executive of EMI Records Group North America.
From New York Times • Nov. 29, 2022
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
