Fortunetellers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who claim to predict the future through various mystical practices
2. practitioners utilizing techniques such as tarot card reading or astrology to offer insight
3. people who provide guidance or predictions based on perceived esoteric knowledge or intuition

Etymology: "Fortunetellers" is the plural of "fortuneteller", a compound of "fortune" and "teller". The base word "fortune" comes from Latin "fortuna", the goddess of chance, and "teller" comes from the Old English "tellere", meaning one who counts or reckons, before it came to mean one who narrates. Put together, the compound describes someone who recounts what fortune has in store, which is why the word has always centred on foretelling rather than on luck alone. The plural follows the regular English pattern of adding "-s" to a count noun, so the same history applies to each person the word describes.

Synonyms: seers, clairvoyants, psychics, oracles, diviners