noun
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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.
A polished aesthetic, marketing and, in Lestat’s case, book buzz can only take a musician so far.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 20, 2026
Sutch, who was also a rock 'n' roll musician, first ran in 1963 in the Stratford by-election and also ran against former prime minister Harold Wilson in the 1966 election.
From BBC • Jun. 19, 2026
TMZ reported at the time that the musician would be cleared of his four felony counts if he complies with treatment and commits no other crimes.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 17, 2026
Music therapy proved invaluable in the rehab of the onetime studio musician who said he has played for the likes of Jimi Hendrix.
From Barron's • Jun. 15, 2026
"Well. I'm well. It's early for a musician to be up, no?"
From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper
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.
