pedagogue

American  

[ped-uh-gog, -gawg] / ˈpɛd əˌgɒg, -ˌgɔg /

Or pedagog

noun

1. a teacher; schoolteacher.

2. a person who is pedantic, dogmatic, and formal.

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pedagogue British  

/ ˈpɛdəˌɡɒɡ /

noun

1. a teacher or educator

2. a pedantic or dogmatic teacher

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Other Word Forms

• pedagogery noun
• pedagogic adjective
• pedagogically adverb
• pedagogish adjective
• pedagogism noun
• pedagoguery noun
• pedagoguish adjective

Etymology

Origin of pedagogue

1350–1400; Middle English pedagoge < Latin paedagōgus < Greek paidagōgós a boy's tutor. See ped- ¹, -agogue

Explanation

Pedagogue is another name for "teacher," but one who is strict, stiff or old-fashioned. The word comes from the Greek pedo for "child" and agogos for "leader." A pedagogue leads people by teaching. The noun pedagogue, pronounced "PED-uh-gog," originally referred to "a slave who brings boys to school." Although the similar word pedagogy is the art of teaching, pedagogue has negative connotations. To call a teacher a pedagogue implies that he or she is "the teacher that time forgot," possibly using notes and handouts from twenty years ago, standing in that same spot, year after year, saying the same things, as students stare out the same windows.

Example Sentences

Ever the eager pedagogue, as played with buoyant energy by Mr. Morse, Beckett annotates her performance: “Haydn based that movement of the symphony on a folk song. From Croatia.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

His main teacher was Leon Russianoff, a leading clarinet pedagogue of the latter half of the 20th century, after whom Mr. Drucker would name his son.

From New York Times • Dec. 20, 2022

COVID, a cruel pedagogue, has been teaching us to cut each other some slack.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 6, 2022

The most idiosyncratic, quirky and brilliant in modern times was Pierre Cochereau, improviser, composer, pedagogue and one of the greatest organists of the 20th century.

From The Guardian • Apr. 16, 2019

Yet the pedagogue Villoing laid the foundation of the great Russian pianist's musical education, an education completed by the genial Franz Liszt.

From Franz Liszt by Huneker, James