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pedagogue
noun
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Pedagogical, Pedagogy, and Pedagogue
Pedagogical and its cognates present us with an excellent example of how different words can come from the same root, retain closely related meanings, and yet take on distinctive connotations. Pedagogical, pedagogy, and pedagogue all come from the Greek paidagōgos, originally the word for an enslaved person who brought children to school. But while pedagogical and pedagogy have meanings simply related to education, teaching, or teachers (with no implied judgment), pedagogue has taken on a negative tone, often referring to a dull or overly formal teacher. A similar transformation has taken place with many of the pedant- words in English. Pedant originally denoted simply "a tutor," but now tends to mean "one who makes a show of knowledge." Pedantic formerly meant "relating to teaching," but now is more commonly used to mean "unimaginative or dull."
Synonyms
Examples of pedagogue in a Sentence
Word History
Middle English pedagoge, petegoge "teacher," borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French pedagoge, pedagogue "person escorting a child to school, tutor," borrowed from Latin paedagōgus "slave in charge of children," borrowed from Greek paidagōgós "slave who escorted children to and from school and supervised them while outdoors, attendant on a child, tutor, guide, mentor," from paid- ped- + agōgós "leading, guiding," derivative (with reduplication) of ágein "to lead, carry off" — more at agent
14th century, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near pedagogue
Cite this Entry
“Pedagogue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pedagogue. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.
Kids Definition
pedagogue
nounMiddle English pedagoge "teacher," from early French pedagoge (same meaning), from Latin paedagogus (same meaning), from Greek paidagōgos "a servant who escorted children to school," from paid- "child" and agōgos "leader"
More from Merriam-Webster on pedagogue
Britannica English: Translation of pedagogue for Arabic Speakers
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