Word.ws English Dictionary

xenagogue

Syllables: xen·a·gogue/ˈzɛnəɡɒɡ/US/ˈzɛnəˌɡɑɡ/

xenagogue noun: one who guides strangers; a guide or tour guide.

Noun

xenagogue (plural xenagogues)

  1. (obsolete, rare) One who guides strangers; a guide or tour guide.
    • […] I vvill be their Xenagogus, or guide, and firſt ſhevv them our Country of Kent, the inhabitants vvhereof, [Julius] Cæſar himſelf in his Commentaries, confeſſeth to be of all others the moſt full of humanity and gentleneſſe.[1570 (date written), William Lambarde, “The Description and History, of the Shire of Kent”, in A Perambulation of Kent: Conteining the Description, Hystorie, and Customes of that Shire. […], 3rd...
    • They are generally excellent Zenagogues or guides through their Countrie.1674, John Josselyn, “The Second Voyage”, in An Account of Two Voyages to New-England. […], London: […] Giles Widdows, […], →OCLC, page 136

Examples of xenagogue in a sentence

  • Consider popular enthusiasm roused by his demagogues and xenagogues.1969 October, Poul Anderson, chapter X, in The Rebel Worlds (Signet Science Fiction; T4041), New York, N.Y.: New American Library, →OCLC...
  • [H]e can't quite get a bead on her instead his swift & anonymous xenagogue points out a bevy of beauties […]1988, Alfred A. Yuson, “The Resurrection”, in Great Philippine Jungle Energy Cafe […], 3rd edition, Mandaluyong City, Philippines: Anvil...
  • A xenagogue also walks alongside, but as a tour guide. […] In these testimonials of online learning parents are depicted as being able to accomplish pedagogical ends while acting like xenagogues.2015, Mary Frances Rice, “Rhetorical Constructions of Parents by Online Learning Companies: A Study of Parent Testimonials”, in Mary...

Forms of xenagogue

pluralxenagogues
alternative formzenagogue

Origin of xenagogue

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ξεναγωγός (xenagōgós), from ξένος (xénos, “foreigner; guest; stranger”, noun) (possibly ultimately Pre-Greek) + ἀγωγός (agōgós, “(adjective) guiding, leading; (noun) escort, guide”) (from ᾰ̓́γω (ắgō, “to bring along, lead”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”)) + -ός (-ós, suffix forming agentive or patientive adjectives and nouns)). By surface analysis, xen- (prefix meaning ‘relating to foreigners or strangers’) + -agogue (suffix denoting something leading to another thing).

Words formed from xenagogue

Questions about xenagogue

What does xenagogue mean?
Xenagogue means one who guides strangers; a guide or tour guide.
How do you use xenagogue in a sentence?
Consider popular enthusiasm roused by his demagogues and xenagogues.
What part of speech is xenagogue?
Xenagogue is a noun.
How do you pronounce xenagogue?
Xenagogue is pronounced /ˈzɛnəɡɒɡ/ (UK).
What is the plural of xenagogue?
The plural of xenagogue is xenagogues.

Words near xenagogue in the dictionary

  1. xenacanthine
  2. xenacanths
  3. xenacoelomorph
  4. xenacoelomorphs
  5. xenagogies
  6. xenagogue
  7. xenagogues
  8. xenagogy
  9. Xenakis
  10. Xenakises
  11. xenalipin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: xenagogue (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-xenagogue.wav.

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