astrologaster

Etymology

From astrology + -aster.

astrologaster means A foolish or petty astrologer. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why this word is great

ASTROLOGASTER — [Noun] A foolish, petty, or inferior astrologer; a charlatan who peddles star-gazing nonsense. The word is a lexical sneer, built from astrology (from the Greek astron, "star," and -logia, "study of") and crowned with the Latin-derived suffix -aster, a diminutive pejorative denoting inferiority or spuriousness. Unlike an "astrologer" (a neutral term for a practitioner) or an "astronomer" (a scientist of the cosmos), an astrologaster is defined by his pretension and palpable ineptitude. He is the man at the fair squinting at a smudged zodiac chart, the midnight voice on the infomercial promising Saturn's blessings for a fee, the proprietor of a dusty shop whose most accurate prediction is the accumulation of grime on his crystal ball. It is the pathos of one who gazes at the infinite and sees only a ledger for petty, human transactions.

noun

A foolish or petty astrologer.