botanist

IPA/ˈbɒtənɪst/
KK[bˈɑtənɪst]IPA/ˈbɑːtənɪst/

botanist — noun

  • botanistsingular
  • botanistsplural

1. a person whose job is to study plants scientifically — for example, how they gro

1.nounB1
Definition

a person whose job is to study plants scientifically — for example, how they grow, reproduce, or adapt to different environments

Example

The city botanist João chose native grasses for the new park.

collocation: city botanist (a botanist working for a local government)

Botanists from the museum found a rare palm tree deep in the Amazon.

collocation: botanist from [institution]

Common collocations
  • city botanist
  • field botanist
  • amateur botanist
  • botanist at [institution]
  • botanist specialising in [type of plant]
Synonyms
  • plant scientist

    broader; can include researchers in agriculture or ecology, not just pure botany

  • plant biologist

    focuses more on the biological and molecular aspects of plants

  • naturalist

    much broader; a person who studies all living things, not just plants

Grammar Patterns

a botanist

the botanist

[adjective] botanist

Usage Note

Countable noun. Usually used with a determiner (a, the, my) or in the plural form. Unlike 'botany' (the field of study), 'botanist' refers specifically to the person who studies it.

Common Mistakes

My cousin is a botany.
My cousin is a botanist.
'botany' is the subject or field of study, not the person.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All three words describe people who work with plants, but their focus differs. A botanist studies plants in a scientific way — their classification, structure, and ecology. A plant scientist is a broader term that can also cover agricultural or industrial plant research. A plant biologist focuses on the cellular and genetic mechanisms of plant life. A horticulturist, by contrast, is more practical: they grow and cultivate plants for gardens, food production, or landscaping. For example, a botanist might classify a newly discovered fern species, while a horticulturist would figure out how to grow it in a greenhouse.

plant scientistplant biologisthorticulturist ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • field botanist
  • amateur botanist
  • botanical survey

Prepositions

Etymology

GreekLatinFrenchEnglish

Comes from the Greek word 'botanē' meaning 'plant' or 'herb', which passed into Latin as 'botanicus' and later into English as 'botany' (the study of plants). The ending '–ist' means 'a person who does or studies something', so a botanist is literally 'a person who studies botany'.

First known use

1647

1647, in the meaning defined at sense 1