gymnosophist
UK/d͡ʒɪmˈnɒsəfɪst/US/d͡ʒɪmˈnɑsəfɪst/
gymnosophist noun: one of a school of ancient Indian ascetic philosophers, reported in antiquity, who wore little clothing; a mystic.
Noun
gymnosophist (plural gymnosophists)
- One of a school of ancient Indian ascetic philosophers, reported in antiquity, who wore little clothing; a mystic.
- As that gymnosophist in Plutarch made answer to Alexander (demanding which spake best), Every one of his fellows did speak better than the other: so may I say of these causes […]., vol.I, New York, 2001, p.250
- I was speaking today with an unclothed Hindu religious, a parama-hamsa, on the steps of a Portuguese church, a true gymnosophist.1973, Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise
Proper noun capitalized: Gymnosophist
Gymnosophist
- Alternative letter-case form of gymnosophist.
Forms of gymnosophist
| plural | gymnosophists |
|---|
Origin of gymnosophist
Borrowed from French gymnosophiste, from Latin gymnosophista, from Ancient Greek γυμνοσοφιστής (gumnosophistḗs), from γυμνός (gumnós, “naked”) + σοφιστής (sophistḗs, “sophist”).
Questions about gymnosophist
- What does gymnosophist mean?
- Gymnosophist means one of a school of ancient Indian ascetic philosophers, reported in antiquity, who wore little clothing; a mystic.
- What part of speech is gymnosophist?
- Gymnosophist can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce gymnosophist?
- Gymnosophist is pronounced /d͡ʒɪmˈnɒsəfɪst/ (UK).
- What is the plural of gymnosophist?
- The plural of gymnosophist is gymnosophists.
Words near gymnosophist in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gymnosophist (page history and authors); Gymnosophist (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “gymnosophist.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gymnosophist. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.