Seerhood

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state or condition of being a person who can perceive future events or hidden knowledge; the quality or status of possessing prophetic insight or visionary abilities; the experience or role associated with those known to foretell or divine outcomes
2. The condition that characterizes one who is reputed to have supernatural foresight or intuition; the possession of abilities to foresee or interpret what is not obvious; the situation of standing as a figure recognized for prophetic wisdom
3. The quality or status held by an individual able to predict or reveal unseen truths; the capacity to see beyond ordinary perception involving prophecy or clairvoyance; the social or mystical position linked with those who claim insight into forthcoming or concealed matters

Etymology: "Seerhood" is a plain compound: "seer," meaning one who sees or foresees, plus the suffix "-hood," which turns a noun into a word for a state, condition, or collective body, as in "childhood" or "priesthood." Put together, the word names the condition of being a seer, the quality that makes someone one. "Seer" itself goes back to Old English "sēon," meaning "to see," so the word has been about sight from the start. "-hood" comes from Old English "hād," which once meant rank, order, or state, and it still carries that sense in "knighthood" and "brotherhood." Attaching it to "seer" gives the word its meaning of a status as much as a faculty: being recognized as a seer, not only possessing the power to see ahead.

Synonyms: prophethood, oracle status