noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of musician
1350–1400; Middle English musicien < Middle French. See music, -ian
Explanation
Anyone who plays music can be called a musician. Whether you're playing the cello on stage at Carnegie Hall or playing the harmonica on a subway platform, you're a musician. While this word is most often used to mean a professional instrumentalist, it can also refer to someone who writes or sings music, and even your brother's friend who occasionally plays the drums in a Led Zeppelin cover band. Musician originally meant "one skilled in music," from the Latin musica, "the art of music and poetry," which has a Greek root, mousike, "art of the Muses."
Vocabulary lists containing musician
List 2
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -an
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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.
See Examples For:
The musician feels people want to "connect emotionally with music" and he thinks "AI can't really do that".
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
When he viewed it for the first time, the musician said it was just “raw land with two dilapidated cabins.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
In the novel, musician Tyler Sinclair leaves home at 18, names his band after the town, gets famous and never looks back.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The Official Monster Raving Loony Party -- first set up in 1982 by musician David Sutch -- also has three candidates running in Clacton.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
We talked about music—about bands I’d never heard of and about how he wanted to be a musician and travel the world.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Representatives for musicians such as BTS are suing unnamed counterfeiters in cities where they perform.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Houston is joining other iconic female musicians as Barbie dolls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
From buskers on the bodhran to musicians firing up their fiddles, the atmosphere and the celebration of music and culture has been joyful.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
Over the years, it’s become customary for major musicians to release several vinyl variants to help promote their latest album.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
There were teachers, musicians, artists, mechanics, doctors, a few priests, and some experienced soldiers.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
