aficionado
/əˌfɪsjəˈnɑːdəʊ
/ /əˌfɪʃ(j)əˈnɑːdəʊ/noun (plural aficionados)
A person who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime: a crossword aficionado...
- Still, his aficionado's enthusiasm for Wagner's operas numbs him to the sensitivities and dilemmas of others.
- Christmas comes early for opera aficionados and classical music enthusiasts.
- To architectural aficionados and style buffs, it's the only one of the many property programmes worth watching.
Synonyms
connoisseur, expert, authority, specialist, pundit, one of the cognoscenti, cognoscente, devotee, appreciator, fan, fanatic, savant;
enthusiast, lover, addict
informal buff, freak, nut, fiend, maniac, a great one for
Origin
Mid 19th century (denoting a devotee of bullfighting): from Spanish, 'amateur', past participle of aficioner 'become fond of' used as a noun, based on Latin affectio(n-) '(favourable) disposition towards' (see affection).
This started out as a term for a devotee of bullfighting. It is a Spanish word meaning ‘amateur’, now used to describe any ardent follower of an activity. Examples of this extended usage date from the 1880s. Compare amateur