admirer

Etymology

It is formed from English admire + -er,^[2][3] an agent noun from the verb.^[3] The OED compares the earlier admirator,^[2] which Etymonline notes was also the form of the Latin agent noun.^[3] The verb admire came through French from Latin admīror (“to wonder at”).^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who admires someone or something: 1571, in William Fulke's Confutation of a Popishe Libelle.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the word to about 1600.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as a person who wonders at or regards someone with admiration, and also gave the sense of a lover.^[6] The sense of a suitor or wooer, a person in love with another, is recorded from 1640, in William Habington's Queene of Arragon,^[2] although Etymonline dates the colloquial sense "one who pays court to a woman" only from 1704.^[3] Merriam-Webster still lists the sense of a lover or beau.^[5]

Timeline

• 1571 – a person who admires someone or something.^[2][5]
• 1640 – a suitor, a person in love with another.^[2] Etymonline dates the sense to 1704.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who admires someone or something: an admirer of modern poetry.^[5][2]
2. A man who is attracted to or courts a woman; a suitor or beau.^[5][2]

Related words

• admire
• admiration
• admirable
• marvel
• miracle

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.