grammarian

[ gruh-mair-ee-uhn ]

noun

1. a specialist or expert in grammar.
2. a person who claims to establish or is reputed to have established standards of usage in a language.

grammarian

/ ɡrəˈmɛərɪən /

noun

1. a person whose occupation is the study of grammar
2. the author of a grammar

Word History and Origins

Origin of grammarian¹

1350–1400; Middle English gramarien < Old French gramairien. See grammar, -ian

Example Sentences

In that sentence, some grammarians put a comma after the word sandwiches — that’s an Oxford comma — while some leave it out.

From Seattle Times

It’s considered wrong only because 200-plus years of grammarians have told us it is wrong, without solidly justifying that judgment.

From Washington Post

Punctilious as Mr. Richards may have been, he told the New York Times that there were many grammarians more “militant” than he.

From Washington Post

This “gospel” was worldwide news — before skeptical papyrologists and grammarians, in one case drawing on the research of an amateur Coptic obsessive working in his Macomb, Mich., basement, showed it to be a complete fake.

From New York Times

That construction grates my grammarian soul because it is a misuse of the term “Catch-22.”

From Washington Post