Other forms: experts
An expert is somebody who knows a great deal about one subject. A leading expert, expert opinion, consult an expert.
The narrowness is the point: expertise is deep rather than broad, and an expert outside their field is just a person with opinions. In court, an expert witness may give an opinion where an ordinary witness may only state what they saw.
1nounexpertSomebody who knows a great deal about one subject.
“We asked an expert to check whether the painting was genuine.”
expert is a person.
Latin expertus means experienced, from experiri, to try. Experiment and peril are relatives.
Proto-Indo-European
*per-
Latin
expertus
Old French
expert — experienced
Middle English
expert
English, today
expert
Built from
Middle English expert, Old French expert (“experienced”), espert, from Latin expertus (contracted from experitus), of experior (“to try”), from ex- + -perior.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA