Vocalists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Performers who utilize their singing abilities to create music
2. Individuals who use their voice to produce musical tones and melodies
3. Artists specializing in the art of singing songs or musical pieces

Etymology: "Vocalists" is the plural of "vocalist," a noun formed in English from "vocal" and the suffix "-ist." The adjective "vocal" traces back through Middle English and Old French to Latin "vocalis," meaning "of the voice," which itself grows from "vox," "voice." So the core of the word is simply the human voice, and "vocal" originally described anything relating to speech or sound produced by the voice. The suffix "-ist" has a longer and more varied road. It came into Latin from Greek "-istēs," which named a person who practises or follows a particular activity, and it passed into Old French and then Middle English as a way of forming agent nouns: a "machinist" works machines, a "theorist" builds theories. Attaching it to "vocal" produced a person who makes vocal music as a profession.

Synonyms: singers, performers