wise man

See also: wiseman

English

Alternative forms

• wiseman

Etymology

wise + man

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwʌɪzman/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

wise man (plural wise men)

1. A man who is wise.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 3, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     That is the reason, why some say, that the wiseman liveth as long as he ought, and not so long as he can.

   • 1635, John Donne, The Triple Foole:

     But where's that wiseman, that would not be I, / If she would not deny?

   • 2005 December 14, “A wise man in Washington”, in The Economist:

     Mr Lieberman is arguably the last surviving example of a peculiar Washington species: the Wise Man who is willing to put party allegiance aside when it comes to big issues such as foreign policy.

2. A man who is a sage or seer.
   • 1989, Elias Lönnrot, translated by Keith Bosley, The Kalevala, section III:

     Steady old Väinämöinen / the everlasting wise man [translating tietäjä] / was driving along his roads / pacing out his ways / in those glades of Väinö-land / on the Kalevala heaths.

3. A magus or wizard, now especially one of the three biblical magi.
   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 174:

     Some of the other charms employed by the wise men had a more tangled pedigree.

Hypernyms

• elder
• mentor
• sage
• seer

 

Derived terms

• Three Wise Men

 

Translations

wise man

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哲人 (zh) (zhérén), 智者 (zh) (zhìzhě), 聖人／圣人 (zh) (shèngrén)

• Egyptian: (sꜣꜣ)
• Esperanto: saĝulo
• Finnish: viisas mies
• French: sage (fr) m
• Galician: sabio m
• Greek:

  Ancient: σοφός m (sophós)

• Irish: fáidh m
• Japanese: 賢人 (ja) (kenjin), 哲人 (ja) (tetsujin), 賢者 (ja) (kenja)
• Latin: sapiens m
• Latvian: gudrinieks m
• Macedonian: у́мник m (úmnik), ра́зумник m (rázumnik)
• Maharastri Prakrit: 𑀧𑀁𑀟𑀺𑀅 (paṃḍia)
• Old English: wita m
• Polish: mędrzec (pl) m
• Portuguese: mago (pt) m
• Sanskrit: कवि (sa) m (kavi)
• Spanish: sabio (es) m

man who is a sage or seer

• Finnish: tietäjä (fi)
• Ingrian: tiitäjä
• Macedonian: му́дрец m (múdrec)
• Portuguese: mago (pt) m

magus

• Finnish: tietäjä (fi), see Itämaan tietäjät
• French: roi mage m
• Galician: rei mago m
• Ingrian: tiitäjä
• Irish: fáidh m
• Macedonian: маг m (mag)
• Portuguese: mago (pt) m
• Spanish: rey mago m

See also

• wise woman

Anagrams

• Weisman, Wiemans, Wiesman, manwise