alchemist
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of alchemist
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English alkamist, probably from Medieval Latin alchymista, equivalent to alchym(ia) alchemy + -ista -ist
Explanation
If you're an alchemist, then you try to change common metals into gold. People have been trying to figure that out for a long time, so you might need to have another job to finance your career as an alchemist. The word alchemist comes from alchemy, which has origins in the Greek word khemeia, meaning "art of transmuting metals." Active since ancient times, alchemists could be considered very early chemists because of their work trying to transform base metals into gold. Alchemists could also be considered wizards because they attempted to make special elixirs that would give everlasting life and cure sickness.
Vocabulary lists containing alchemist
The Alchemist
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The Cardboard Kingdom
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"The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair (excerpt)
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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.
Lichtenberg considers himself an AI alchemist of sorts, because he often has to re-prompt the tools he uses to get the writing and analysis he’s looking for.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026
A self-proclaimed alchemist, Williams specializes in transforming wet soil into hardened sculptures that typically live outdoors, where the wind carries seedlings that may attach to the artist’s creations and bloom.
From New York Times • Mar. 22, 2024
Whoever can turn it invisible by bending light around it will change warfare just as dramatically as the Chinese alchemist 900 years ago who was looking for the elixir of life and discovered gunpowder.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2024
Back in the album chart, hip-hop alchemist Travis Scott holds steady at number two with his sprawling fourth album, Utopia.
From BBC • Sep. 15, 2023
“To get rid of it,” he told the alchemist, as sure as he had ever been of anything.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
