Algebrist
/ˈæl.dʒə.brɪst/noun
A person skilled in or specializing in algebra.
Did you know?The word ultimately comes from Arabic al-jabr, a term describing the restoration or rejoining of broken parts—an unexpectedly physical metaphor for solving equations.
Etymological Timeline
9th Century
Arabic
al-jabr
“Restoration, rejoining, or completion; a mathematical operation described by al-Khwarizmi.”
9th Century
Arabic
al-kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-jabr wa-l-muqābala
“Al-Khwarizmi’s treatise on calculation by restoration and balancing.”
12th Century
Latin
algebra
“The name adopted in medieval Latin for the Arabic mathematical method.”
16th Century
English
algebra
“A branch of mathematics using symbols and equations.”
16th–17th Century
English
algebrist
“A practitioner or expert in algebra, formed with the agent suffix -ist.”
Explore more surprising origins