Cosmetologist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A trained specialist in beauty who provides services such as skincare, hair treatments, and makeup application for enhancing one's appearance
2. An expert offering cosmetic treatments focusing on beauty enhancement through various techniques like skin care and makeup
3. A professional skilled in beauty services that includes hair styling, skincare treatments, and makeup application to improve aesthetic appearance

Etymology: Cosmetologist is a plain formation: it takes "cosmetology" and adds the agent suffix "-ist", which turns a field of study or practice into the name of the person who works in it. The suffix came into English from Middle English, where it was borrowed through Old French from Latin "-ista", and that Latin ending was in turn taken from Greek "-istēs", a pattern that gave English many words for practitioners, such as "dentist", "pianist" and "chemist". The base word, "cosmetology", is the more revealing part. It descends from Greek "kosmētikos", meaning skilled in arranging or adorning, which itself grew from "kosmos", the word for order and the universe. So the trade of beautifying a face was once tied to a Greek idea of orderliness, and "cosmetologist" carries that older sense of arranging things well.

Synonyms: beautician, esthetician, hairdresser