abecedarian
- noun
- /ˌeɪ.bɪˈsiː.dɛr.i.ən/
- The workshop was designed for abecedarians who wanted to learn the fundamentals of coding.
Examples
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Jocoseriously speaking, I am a literary chronosopher, which is to say an abecedarian and a dilettante, a conflator of high and low and now and when and if and then.
Blog text (31) -
What's an abecedarian?
Academic text (2010) -
(Listen to an Early Ed Watch Podcast on the Abecedarian Project.)
Blog text (27) -
As an abecedarian in music theory, she struggled with the basics of reading sheet music.
-
He joined the class as an abecedarian, eager to learn the basics of photography.
Synonyms
276
3.7
A person new to a job or activity who has little experience
81
1.0
A person who has just started to learn or do something
67
1.0
A person who gains knowledge and skills from study, practice or teaching
60
4.7
A person who is new to a job or activity and has little experience
46
3.4
A person new to an activity who has little experience
9
8.4
A person new to a subject, skill, or belief
A person new to a job or group
How Experienced
Surface Forms
Morphology
abecedarian = abecedary (semi-transparent) = abeced + arian
The sense 'beginner' is a metaphorical extension from learning the alphabet; the morphological pieces point to this history but the connection is not fully obvious to learners unfamiliar with the root.
Etymology
Abecedarian originally meant someone learning the letters A B C, so a helpful way to remember it is to think of a child learning their ABCs. That's why it now means a 'beginner' or someone just starting to learn something.