sorcerer

A sorcerer is a person who can perform sorcery—witchcraft or magic.

The word sorcerer can be used for any gender, but it typically refers to a man. The word sorceress refers to a woman who performs sorcery.

The word sorcery often (though not always) refers to so-called black magic—magic used for evil purposes. That’s why sorcerer and sorceress are often used to refer to evil characters in works of fiction, especially in the fantasy genre.

In contrast, similar words like wizard and magician usually imply that such figures use their powers for good. If not, you’d usually call them an evil wizard or evil magician. 

Apart from whether or not they use their supernatural powers for good or evil, the words sorcerer and sorceress often imply that such a person is very powerful due to having great skill and command of such powers.

For this reason, the word sorcerer is sometimes used in a figurative way to refer to a person who is very skilled at something, as if they have magical abilities, as in Chris is a sorcerer at coding. The word sorcery can be used to refer to such skill. The words wizard and wizardry are used (even more commonly) in the same ways.

Example: The sorcerer has cast a powerful spell to enchant this land.

The first records of the word sorcerer come from the 1520s. An earlier (and now no longer used) form of the word is sorcer. The word sorceress is recorded earlier than both of these, in the second half of the 1300s. All three words ultimately come from the Latin sortiārius, meaning “person who casts lots” (referring to a person who tells fortunes).

Fictionally speaking, a sorcerer is a magician (the kind who wields supernatural powers, not the kind who does card tricks). Sorcerers are often villains in the stories where they appear, but this is not always the case. Sorcerer only sometimes implies evil, but it always implies great magical power and skill. The figurative use of the word usually doesn’t imply evil. When you call a chef a sorcerer, it’s a compliment meaning that they use their skill to make magic in the kitchen—not that they use their powers for evil.

What are some other forms related to sorcerer?

• sorceress (female version)
• sorcery (noun)

What are some synonyms for sorcerer?

• magician
• wizard
• conjurer
• witch

What are some words that share a root or word element with sorcerer? 

• sorcerous
• ensorcell

What are some words that often get used in discussing sorcerer?

• evil
• powerful
• power
• magic
• spell
• fantasy
• skill

Sorcerers most commonly appear (and disappear) in the context of fantasy.

i love the trope where people think of emrys as an untouchable being who can do no wrong bc he’s this all powerful sorcerer but then come to realise merlin is just a human who eats too fast and trips over air and gets the flu and makes mistakes just like a normal person does

— zhu (@doseofmerlin) July 5, 2020

What did we just watch? Jae Crowder is some kind of sorcerer. pic.twitter.com/hXEYndfLTk

— Jake Lee (@jacobrexlee) January 24, 2019

The virus succeeded where previous efforts to limit women’s ascendancy in the workplace failed: in a scenario so perfect it’s almost as if a misogynistic sorcerer conjured it in a dungeon, a global pandemic may be the impetus for booting working moms from the workplace altogether https://t.co/GDTj3XkqaE

— Jacklyn Wille (@JacklynWille) July 8, 2020

True or False? 

Sorcerers are always evil.