Where does “guitarist” come from?

Guitarist comes from English guitar plus the Latin suffix -ista, derived from Ancient Greek κιθάρα meaning a stringed instrument, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots denoting playing or vibration.

guitarist (English): Someone who plays a guitar

Definitions

  1. Someone who plays a guitar

Ancestry of “guitarist”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-istAdded to words to form nouns denoting
2Old French-iste—
3Latin-ista-ist; one who practises or believes
4Ancient Greek-ιστήςAlternative form of -τής; -ist
5Ancient Greek-τήςAppended to verbs to form agent nouns
6Proto-Hellenic-tās—

Words derived from “guitarist”

Every word from Proto-Hellenic -tās →Every word from English -ist →Every word from Ancient Greek -τής →