Ventriloquist

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /vɛnˈtɹɪl.ə.kwɪst/

Definitions

1. An entertainer who skillfully makes it seem that a puppet or doll is speaking by using voice projection techniques without lip movement
2. A skilled performer who uses vocal techniques to create the illusion of a puppet speaking while keeping their lips still
3. A person who entertains by making puppets appear to talk without moving their own lips

Etymology: The core of "ventriloquist" is an old Latin compound: "venter" (belly) plus "loqui" (to speak), so "ventriloquy" meant speaking from the belly. The Romans already had the word "ventriloquus," and English took the idea and the stem before the modern performer existed. The performance itself is an older practice than the name suggests; the Latin word described people who seemed to speak from inside the body, not from the mouth. The English noun "ventriloquist" is built by adding the suffix "-ist" to "ventriloquy." That suffix is the same one found in words like "artist" or "violinist," marking a person who practises or performs something. Its ancestry runs through Ancient Greek "-istēs," passed into Latin as "-ista," then through Old French "-iste," and into Middle English as "-ist." So the performer's title is a stack of borrowed endings wrapped around a Latin core.

Synonyms: puppeteer