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-ast

Also ‑iast.

A person connected with a pursuit or activity.

Greek nouns ending in ‑astēs, often from verbs in ‑azein.

The most common example here is enthusiast (Greek enthousiastēs, a person inspired by a god). Others derived directly from Greek words include gymnast (Greek gumnastēs, trainer of athletes, from gumnazein, to exercise naked, the usual practice in classical Greece); pederast (Greek pais, paid‑, boy); and iconoclast (Greek eikonoklastēs, breaker of images, from eikōn, image). Modern examples include cineaste (borrowed from French and retaining the French spelling) and ecdysiast (Greek ekdusis, shedding), a humorous term for a striptease performer.

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