Quizmaster

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkwɪzˌmæs.tə(ɹ)/

Definitions

1. A person responsible for creating, administering, and overseeing quizzes or trivia competitions
2. An individual who hosts quiz events, posing questions and managing participant responses
3. Someone who designs and orchestrates quiz contests, guiding players through rounds of inquiry and scoring

Etymology: "Quizmaster" is a plain compound: "quiz" joined to "master," so the name describes exactly what the person does. The first element, "quiz," is itself a word of uncertain origin that appeared in English in the eighteenth century, and it originally meant an odd or eccentric person before it came to mean a test of knowledge. "Master" here carries its older sense of someone in charge of a discipline or an activity, as in ringmaster or headmaster, so a quizmaster is literally the person who runs the quiz. The compound follows a common English pattern in which a noun naming an activity is paired with "master" to name whoever presides over it. Because the combination is transparent, the word has changed little since it was formed, and its meaning today is the same as its parts suggest.

Synonyms: quizmaster, trivia host, game master