yogi

Etymology

It is borrowed from Sanskrit योगिन् (yogin, “person with esoteric knowledge; follower of yoga”), nominative योगी (yogī),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} in early use partly through Portuguese iogue, also jogue (1525), and Italian gioghi, also giogue.^[2] Etymonline, Klein and the American Heritage Dictionary take it from Hindi योगी (yogī).^{[8][9][10][7]} The OED explains the Sanskrit noun as the masculine of an adjective of the same form, having union with, used only in compounds and formed on योग (yoga, “union”), the source of yoga.^[2][10][5] The Sanskrit word also had a vernacular pronunciation with initial j-,^[2] and Weekley notes that Fryer, in the 17th century, wrote “Jogue” and “Jogi”.^[11] The OED compares Middle French iogue (1553), Spanish iogue (1578, now yogui) and an isolated Old French cuigui in Marco Polo; in the Romance languages the final -i was sometimes taken for a plural ending, and a new singular in -e was formed.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Hindu ascetic who practises yoga: 1613, in Samuel Purchas's Pilgrimage.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1610s, Dictionary.com to 1610–20, and Merriam-Webster to 1619.^[8][5][4]

Semantic evolution

In early English use the word described the wandering Hindu ascetic and mendicant of travellers' accounts, who combined meditation with austerity;^[8] Merriam-Webster adds that such ascetics were sometimes credited with supernatural powers.^[4] The OED notes that it could refer to Hindu, Buddhist or Jain holy men.^[2] As yoga spread in the West, the word came to mean any expert practitioner or teacher of yoga.^[2][12][3] From 1880 it was also used for the discipline itself, the same as yoga, a use rare after the mid 20th century.^[2] Etymonline records yogism "the doctrine and practice of yogis" from 1893, and yogeeism from 1887.^[8]

Timeline

• 1613 – an ascetic who practises yoga, in Purchas.^[2]
• 1880 – the discipline of yoga itself (rare after the mid 20th century).^[2]
• 1887 – yogeeism, and in 1893 yogism, the doctrine of yogis.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who practises yoga, especially a master or teacher of it.^{[4][12][3][2]}
2. A Hindu ascetic who seeks liberation through the bodily and mental disciplines of yoga, such as posture, breathing and concentration.^[4][2]

Related words

• yogini
• yoga
• yoke

Usage notes

The plural is yogis; the variant yogin is also used,^[4][3][5] and a female yogi is a yogini.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins