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:
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
The plan was that Weimer would financially stabilize Magus while McElroy maintained a steady income at her corporate gigs to subsidize the endeavor.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
“But about six months in, Chris was having so much more fun than I was,” McElroy explained, and she left corporate life behind to join him at Magus full time.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
Now, the couple oversee a dozen employees, and Magus handles a truly staggering number of books flooding in and out the doors on a daily basis.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
And it was with the deepest anguish that I heard she had fled from her father and friends, and had gone down into Egypt with Simon Magus.
From In Both Worlds by Holcombe, William Henry
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
Somehow, the younger Fellini strikes me as sadder and wiser than the all-powerful magus he would eventually become.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 17, 2020
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 was collecting grass for the camels of the Three Magi, who were coming that night with presents for all the children.
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.
