Meanings
nounshaman (plural shamans or (hypercorrect) shamen)
plural shamans · hypercorrect plural shamen
- A traditional faith healer.
Synonyms: witch doctor
- A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds; sometimes also a healer.
Near-synonyms: medicine man, medicine woman, priest-doctor, witch doctor
1 more example
Shepard: What rites did you go through to become chief shaman? Shaman: Becoming the shaman is excruciating. I passed through rites that made me wish to die. I carry the scars on my soul. Shaman: I must perform rites each dawn and dusk to keep me bound into our krogan nature. Our spirit is one of violence and death. I must be attuned to that.
2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: TuchankaSynonyms: medicine man, medicine woman, priest-doctor, witch doctor
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA traditional faith healer.
Similar
nounA member of certain tribal societies who acts as a spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds; sometimes also a healer.
More synonyms by meaning
nounin societies practicing shamanism: one acting as a medium between the visible and spirit worlds; practices sorcery for healing or divination
Similar
Broader
priestnon-Christian priest
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Sanskritश्रमण“ascetic, monk, devotee”
- Palisamaṇa
- Chinese沙門 /沙门“Buddhist monk”
- txbṣamāne“monk”
- Proto-Tungusic*samān
- Evenkiшама̄н
- Russianшама́н
- GermanSchamane
- Englishshaman
Borrowed from German Schamane, from Russian шама́н (šamán), from Evenki шама̄н (şamān), сама̄н (samān), from Proto-Tungusic *samān. The Evenki word is possibly derived from the root ша- (şa-, “to know”); or else a loanword from Tocharian B ṣamāne (“monk”) or Chinese 沙門 /沙门 (shāmén, “Buddhist monk”), from Pali samaṇa from Sanskrit श्रमण (śramaṇa, “ascetic, monk, devotee”), from श्रम (śrama, “weariness, exhaustion; labor, toil; etc.”), which would make this a doublet of sramana.
More words from German, Russian, Evenki
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic شَامَان, كَاهِن
- شَامَان (šāmān)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- كَاهِن (kāhin)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- عَرَّاف (ʕarrāf)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Basque xaman
- xamanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Bengali ওঝা
- ওঝা (ōjha)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Bulgarian шама́н, влъ́хва
- шама́н (šamán)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- влъ́хва (vlắhva)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Catalan xaman
- xamanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Chinese Mandarin 薩滿 /萨满, 巫醫 /巫医
- 薩滿 /萨满 (sàmǎn)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- 巫醫 /巫医 (wūyī)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- 巫 (wū)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- 巫師 /巫师 (wūshī)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Czech šaman
- šamanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Danish shaman, vølve
- shamanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- vølvespiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Dutch sjamaan, bonuman
- sjamaanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- bonumanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- lukumanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- piaispiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- piaimanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Esperanto ŝamano, ŝamanino
- ŝamanospiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- ŝamaninospiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Estonian nõid
- nõidspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Finnish šamaani, poppamies
- šamaanispiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- poppamiesspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
French chamane, chaman
- chamanespiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- chamanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- chamanespiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- shamanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- shamanespiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
German Schamane, Schamanin
- Schamanespiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- Schamaninspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Greek σαμάνος, σαμάν
- σαμάνος (samános)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- σαμάν (samán)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- ιατρομάντης (iatromántis)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Hebrew שמאן, שמאנית
- שמאן (shaman)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- שמאנית (shamanit)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Hindi शामन, ओझा
- शामन (śāman)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- ओझा (ojhā)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Hungarian sámán, táltos
- sámánspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- táltosspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Icelandic völva
- völvaspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Indonesian dukun
- dukunspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Italian sciamano, sciamana
- sciamanospiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- sciamanaspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Japanese シャーマン
- シャーマン (shāman)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Korean 무당, 샤먼
- 무당 (mudang)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- 샤먼 (syameon)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Latin samānus
- samānusspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Malay pawang
- pawangspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Norwegian Bokmål sjaman, volve
- sjamanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- volvespiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Persian شمن
- شمن (šaman)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Polish szaman, szamanka
- szamanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- szamankaspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- wołchwspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Portuguese xamã, xamane
- xamãspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- xamanespiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Romanian șaman
- șamanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Russian шама́н, шама́нка
- шама́н (šamán)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- шама́нка (šamánka)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- зна́харь (znáxarʹ)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- волхв (volxv)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Spanish chamán, chamana
- chamánspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- chamanaspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- shamánspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- shamanaspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- curanderospiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- curanderaspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Swedish schaman, völva
- schamanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- völvaspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Thai ร่างทรง, คนทรง
- ร่างทรง (râang-song)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- คนทรง (kon-song)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- คนทรงเจ้าspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- คนทรงเจ้าเข้าผีspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Turkish şaman, kam
- şamanspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- kamspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- bakşıspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Ukrainian шама́н, знаха́р
- шама́н (šamán)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- знаха́р (znaxár)spiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Vietnamese thầy đồng, thầy pháp
- thầy đồngspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
- thầy phápspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Zulu isangoma
- isangomaspiritual or religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with shaman
jangonedanIranjeanTaiwanPakistanjuansalmonsudanMilanOmanAzerbaijanAvonnirvanaBhutankhandaemonafghanyuanDamonkanRajasthanMcMahon
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
shaman. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shaman
MLA
“shaman.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shaman. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shaman,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shaman.
Source: shaman on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.