Scholemaster

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A man employed to teach subjects to pupils in a school or educational institution
2. A male educator who instructs students in academic subjects within a formal schooling environment
3. A man whose profession involves teaching and instructing learners in a school setting

Etymology: The "school" in "schoolmaster" once meant leisure. It comes from the ancient Greek "scholē", which meant spare time, reflecting the idea that learning was what free people did when they were not occupied with work. Latin borrowed the term as "schola", and it reached Old English as "scol", the source of the modern word. "Master" is the ordinary English word for a person in charge, so the compound means someone in charge of learning. The older spelling "scholemaster" survives in the title of Roger Ascham's treatise on teaching, where the word appears in its earlier form.