Other forms: enthusiasts
An enthusiast is somebody with a keen interest in a subject. A railway enthusiast.
It is warm rather than mocking, though the word once meant somebody claiming divine inspiration. Every subject has enthusiasts who know more than the professionals and are paid nothing.
1nounenthusiastSomebody with a keen interest in a subject.
“The enthusiast in the corner knew more than either of the speakers.”
enthusiast is a person.
Greek enthousiastes meant somebody possessed by a god, from en plus theos, a god.
Ancient Greek
ἐνθουσιαστής — an enthusiast, a zealot
English, today
enthusiast
Built from
From Ancient Greek ἐνθουσιαστής (“an enthusiast, a zealot”), from ἐνθουσιάζειν (“(intransitive) be inspired or possessed by a god, be rapt, be in ecstasy, (transitive) inspire”): see enthusiasm.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA