Magus
noun
one of the Magi.
Magus
American
[may-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:
Ask anyone to close their eyes and picture a four-decade-old used-book store situated next to a major university, and the bookstore they imagine is likely to resemble Magus Books in Seattle’s University District.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
After spending almost two decades shepherding Magus Books into the 21st century, Weimer and McElroy have undertaken a new project: On Oct.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
“It is quintessential,” Magus co-owner Hanna McElroy laughs.
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
John Govan seems to have survived these dismal times by some years; for I find him next on Magus Muir, encouraging and supporting his friends who suffered.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Vol. XX by Alexander Leighton
And a venom peptide from a cone snail, Conus magus, led to Prialt, a chronic pain drug.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 27, 2022
Burgess originally intended to capture Death but when Dream materializes instead, unconscious and helpless, the "magus" decides he'll do just fine.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2022
A financial magus in Manhattan stipulates in his will that his possessions be sold.
From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2017
In 1876, William Ewart Gladstone, the Liberal magus then in semi-retirement, took up the horrors of the Ottomans’ brutal repression of Bulgarian nationalists; four years later, his growing indignation helped bring down the Disraeli government.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 9, 2014
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
These are the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi; Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives, the Crucifixion and the Lamentation; and, finally, the Resurrection, Ascension and Pentecost.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
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
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
Through an internal project code-named Magi, Google has looked to infuse its namesake engine with generative artificial intelligence, technology that can answer questions with human-like prose and derive new content from past data.
From Reuters ● May 10, 2023
I worried that if she kept it up, the Three Magi wouldn’t come with presents.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
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.
