Byholdere

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who gazes upon, watches, or observes something, especially a spectacle or sight
2. Someone who looks at or perceives a thing, an archaic term for a viewer or spectator
3. The one who views or regards an object, scene, or sight with attention

Etymology: Before "beholder" meant one who sees, it meant one who holds. Its root, Old English "behealdan", combined "be-" with "healdan", "to hold, keep, or guard", the same verb that gave modern English "hold" and that is related to German "halten". So "behold" originally meant to hold something in your possession or to keep watch over it, and the sense of looking at something came later, developing from the idea of keeping your eyes fixed on a thing. The "-er" ending simply marks a person who does the action, so a Middle English "byholdere" was someone who kept or guarded, and the sense of an observer grew out of that.

Synonyms: beholder, observer, viewer, watcher, spectator