alchemist

noun

al·​che·​mist ˈal-kə-mist 

: a person who studies or practices alchemy

alchemistic

ˌal-kə-ˈmi-stik 

adjective

or less commonly alchemistical

ˌal-kə-ˈmi-sti-kəl 

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Alchemist: Someone Who Transforms Things for the Better

Today we recognize alchemy as a pseudoscience, and give chemistry its rightful place as a serious scientific field, but the two terms initially overlapped in meaning before separating by the 17th century, just as astrology and astronomy did during the same period.

Alchemy and alchemist are in fact older words than chemistry and chemist in English. Alchemists believed that lead could be “perfected” into gold, that diseases could be cured, and that life could be prolonged through transmutation, or a change of some essential element into a superior form. Their secretive experiments, usually involving heat and the mixing of liquids, led to the development of pharmacology and the rise of modern chemistry.

The long route to English for alchemist began with the Greek word chēmeia, which probably came from the word chyma (“fluid”), derived from the verb chein, meaning “to pour.” It then passed to Arabic, which added its definite article al- (“the”) to the Greek root. The word then passed from Latin to French before coming to English. Some other words derived from Arabic also retain the al- in English, such as algebra, algorithm, and alcohol; in fact, the transformative liquid that was constantly being sought through experimentation by alchemists is another word with the Arabic al- prefix: elixir.

This power to transform things for the better, real or imagined, led to figurative meanings for alchemy and alchemist.

Examples of alchemist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The movie is about a famous Renaissance-era alchemist who was ahead of his time in his holistic and herbal approach to medicine. —Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 6 May 2025

Medieval alchemists toiled unsuccessfully to change lead into gold, but physicists at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland had better luck – though for only a microsecond. —George Petras, USA Today, 17 May 2025

In a breakthrough that would make medieval alchemists envious, scientists at Europe's Large Hadron Collider have successfully transformed lead into gold, producing 89,000 atoms per second. —Doc Louallen, ABC News, 13 May 2025

Great chefs are alchemists who can turn humble ingredients into gold. —Sam Sifton, New York Times, 18 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English alkemyste, alkamystre, borrowed from Middle French and Medieval Latin; Middle French alkemiste, arquemiste, borrowed from Medieval Latin alchemista, alkimista, from alkimia, alchymia alchemy + -ista -ist entry 1

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above