Magus
noun
one of the Magi.
Magus
American
[mey-guhs]
/ ˈmeɪ gəs /
noun
-
Magi
plural
-
(sometimes lowercase) one of the Magi.
-
(lowercase) a magician, sorcerer, or astrologer.
-
(sometimes lowercase) a Zoroastrian priest.
magus
1
British
/ ˈmeɪɡəs /
noun
-
a Zoroastrian priest
-
an astrologer, sorcerer, or magician of ancient times
Magus
2
British
/ ˈmeɪɡəs /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Magus
1615–25; < Latin < Greek mágos < Old Persian maguŝ; compare Avestan moγu
Explanation
A magus is a follower of Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion. You can also use magus to mean "magician" or "wise man." In ancient Persia, a Zoroastrian priest (or a member of that particular caste) was a magus. The word's meaning grew to include practitioners of astrology and magic, but in English its plural form, magi, is most commonly used for the three wise men, or magi, who are described visiting Jesus in the Bible. Magus means "magician" in Latin, and its roots go back to the Old Persian magush, also "magician."
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.
See Examples For:
While Magus feels like it somehow has a copy of every single book ever published crammed inside its walls, the annex feels breezier, and more primed for discovery.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
On virtually any trip to Magus, browsers are likely to eavesdrop on some of the best conversations in the city.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
Weimer says with some satisfaction that customers frequently walk in to Magus “and they say ‘I went to college here in 1982, and the store still smells the same and looks the same.’
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
“It is quintessential,” Magus co-owner Hanna McElroy laughs.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
No one can aid you so efficiently as Simon Magus.
From In Both Worlds by William Henry Holcombe
The molecule came from the Conus magus, a sea snail found in the deep sea.
From Salon ● May 21, 2025
So begins the mythology of Gabriel García Márquez, the magus of magical realism, a Nobel laureate who blended truth and fiction to fit the outsize reality of Latin American life.
From New York Times ● Apr. 7, 2023
And a venom peptide from a cone snail, Conus magus, led to Prialt, a chronic pain drug.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 27, 2022
More famously, a 1983 novel is written as a fictional diary by Oscar Wilde, a photograph of whom decorates his study, sandwiched between Thomas More and the Elizabethan magus John Dee.
From The Guardian ● May 20, 2017
It was a construction she must have once overheard, and she had uttered it in blind faith, like an apprentice mouthing the incantation of a magus.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
To figure out what AI-driven search should look like, the company began a multiteam effort called Project Magi, led by Liz Reid, who became Google’s vice president of search in 2024.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 2026
Nobody can tell you whether any of them knew a Magi from a Musketeer, not to mention that the Roman Empire they worked under was a failed administration.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2025
The Christian feast day of Epiphany, when observers celebrate the visit to Jesus by the Magi - commonly known as the Three Kings, or Wise Men - is widely celebrated in Spain.
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2025
In some traditions, it celebrates the baptism of Jesus and in others the visit of the Three Magi to the Baby Jesus.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 6, 2024
I flipped ahead to the Ms. Magi, magpie, manicure...manifest.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
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.
