Word.ws English Dictionary

magi

Syllables: Ma·gi/ˈmæd͡ʒaɪ//ˈmeɪd͡ʒaɪ/

magi is the plural of mage.

magi is the plural of magus.

Meaning of mage

Noun

mage (plural magi or mages)

  1. A magician, wizard, sorcerer, witch, warlock or mystic.
  2. (obsolete) Synonym of magus: a Zoroastrian priest.
    • While the liberality of Gelo and his brother Hiero atracted every stranger who could amuse or instruct the court of Syracuse, a Persian Mage related to the former of those princes that he himself had circumnavigated the whole continent of Africa.c. 1790, Edward Gibbon, On the Position of the Meridional Line, and the supposed Circumnavigation of Africa by the Ancients; republished as The Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, Esq. […] , volume...
    Synonyms:
    magus

Meaning of magus

Noun

magus (plural magi or (rare) maguses)

  1. A magician; (derogatory) a conjurer or sorcerer, especially one who is a charlatan or trickster.
    • In the middle of the fifth century, Empedocles testified to the vitality of these maguses, who were capable of commanding the winds and of bringing the dead back from Hades and who presented themselves, not as mortals, but as gods.1987, Jean-Pierre Vernant, translated by Anne Marzin, “Greek Religion”, in Mircea Eliade, editor, The Encyclopedia of Religion, volume 6, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan Publishing Company; London: Collier...
  2. A Zoroastrian priest.
    • Court astrologers, who were drawn from the race of the Magi, were among those that formed the royal court [...]1922, Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization, page 230

Proper noun capitalized: Magi

Magi pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) Chiefly preceded by the (three): the wise men who visited and gave gifts to the baby Jesus at the Epiphany (traditionally considered to be three in number and sometimes named Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior, but the Bible does not state how many there were or their names).
    • A rich Tabernacle where is kept the head of Saint Euſtorgio, and the Tomb of the three Magi, with this inſcription. Sepulchrum Trium Magorum, where lay the Bodies of thoſe Magi, which were brought hither by Saint Euſtorgio, in Anno 330. when he came laſt out of the Eaſt, but many yeers after, this...1660, Edmund Warcupp, transl., Italy, in its Original Glory, Ruine and Revival, London, →OCLC, page 70
  2. (broadly, plural, plural-only) The three bright stars (Alnitak (ζ Ori), Alnilam (ε Ori), and Mintaka (δ Ori)) that form Orion's Belt in the Orion constellation.

Noun capitalized: MAGI

MAGI (plural MAGIs)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of modified adjusted gross income.
    • In the case of a taxpayer with modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) over $400,000 ($200,000 for a married taxpayer filing a separate return), the cap would phase down by 20 percent of the excess of MAGI over the threshold until it reaches $10,000 ($5,000 for a married taxpayer filing a separate...2025 May, “The One, Big, Beautiful Bill”, in United States House Committee on Ways & Means, page 37

Synonyms of magi

Forms of magi

pluralMAGIs

Origin of magi

From magi (plural of magus (“magician; (derogatory) conjurer or sorcerer, especially one who is a charlatan or trickster; Zoroastrian priest”)), from Middle English mages, magi or Magi, magy or Magy (“men possessing occult knowledge; astrologers, philosophers, sorcerers”), from Latin magī, from magus (“magician; (derogatory) conjurer or sorcerer, especially one who is a charlatan or trickster; Zoroastrian priest”) + -ī (suffix forming nominative or vocative masculine plurals). Magus is derived from Ancient Greek μάγος (mágos), Μάγος (Mágos, “magician; (derogatory) conjurer, sorcerer; Zoroastrian priest”) (plural μᾰ́γοι (mắgoi), Μᾰ́γοι (Mắgoi)), from Old Iranian (compare Avestan 𐬨𐬊𐬕𐬎 (moġu), Old Median and Old Persian 𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁 (m-gu-u-š /⁠maγu-⁠/, title of a person?)), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ- (“to be able, have power; power; sorcerer”).

Words formed from magi

Questions about magi

What does magi mean?
Magi means chiefly preceded by the (three): the wise men who visited and gave gifts to the baby Jesus at the Epiphany (traditionally considered to be three in number and sometimes named Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior, but the Bible does not state how many there were or their names).
What is magi the plural of?
Magi is the plural of mage.
What part of speech is magi?
Magi can be a proper noun or a noun.
How do you pronounce magi?
Magi is pronounced /ˈmæd͡ʒaɪ/.

Words near magi in the dictionary

  1. Maghs
  2. Maghubas
  3. Maghull
  4. maghzen
  5. maghzens
  6. magi
  7. Magian
  8. Magianism
  9. Magians
  10. magic
  11. Magic 8 Ball

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: magi (page history and authors); Magi (page history and authors); MAGI (page history and authors); mage (page history and authors); magus (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.

Last updated:

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Cite this entry: “magi.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/magi. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.