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What is a word for a person who loves to share knowledge? So far I have educator in mind. Is there any other word?

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    How about "Teacher"? – Gaurav Sep 14 '10 at 5:48
  • @Gaurav: that could be an answer. – delete Sep 14 '10 at 10:48
  • Shinto: yeah, but it seemed so obvious to me that I felt I must have misunderstood the question, and was hoping for clarifications. – Gaurav Sep 15 '10 at 4:38
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    In the Christian world an evangelist. I've never heard a complaint about using the word outside of Christianity by Christians. IE a health food evangelist. – Wayne Sep 24 '11 at 21:52
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    @Wayne: "evangelist" is used fairly often these days in non-theological contexts. I've seen the term "Java evangelist" used regularly for people who promote the Java programming language. Sun referred to some of their Java advocates as "Java evangelists" as if it was their job title. (Maybe it was.) – Jay Jan 10 '12 at 22:36
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How about "maven"? According to the Wikipedia article,

A maven (also mavin) is a trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass knowledge on to others.

[Admittedly, many dictionaries define the word merely as something like "an expert", but the meaning is in flux, and the "person who loves to share knowledge" meaning is getting more common.]

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  • Thanks @ShreevatsaR. Yah it is more closer to knowledge sharing. – Thedal Sep 14 '10 at 8:59
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    Again, I must point out this was just a tentative answer; "maven" in most contexts just means "expert" or "self-styled expert" etc. — look up the dictionaries. – ShreevatsaR Sep 14 '10 at 10:11
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    Although I don't have a good answer for the question, I don't think "maven" is understood by many English speakers. – delete Sep 14 '10 at 10:48
  • @Shinto is right. And so is @ShreevatsaR. To my ears, maven has a mildly negative connotation which derives from the "self-styled" part. (Anyone can be a self-style expert.) – Benjol Sep 16 '10 at 5:24
  • That describes me! :D – user19341 Jan 4 '13 at 18:49
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A pedagogue likes to teach others things.

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    Pedagogue has a rather negative connotation, though. – Chris Dec 9 '12 at 16:53
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A few more words for people who share knowledge: teacher, "teaching assistant", tutor, mentor, coach, guru, contributor, author, polyglot, blogger, Wikipedian, ...

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    ... pedant ... (evil grin) – Marthaª Feb 27 '11 at 18:16
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How about "pundit"? A pundit is

a person who knows a lot about a particular subject and who often talks about it in public

From: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/pundit

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  • I'd think pundit has a derogatory meaning. – Pacerier Mar 12 '15 at 4:12
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In addition to the excellent answers previously given with positive connotations, I offer this pejorative one:

pedant

...because loving to share your knowledge doesn't always mean others love to receive it.

That's not intended as a subtle dig at StackExchange users. I just really like the word.

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2

Within religion and technology people who are keen to spread ideas are know as evangelists.

"The Greek word εὐαγγέλιον originally meant a reward given to the messenger for good news".

For evangelists who are promoting knowledge of a certain type of technology or religion, spreading the 'word' is seen as it's own reward, rather than seeking any monetary reward.

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A professor is someone who professes his knowledge or faith, gratuitously, sometimes. To all who would listen.

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A fountainhead is a person who is a source of all kinds of knowledge. S/he may not love sharing that knowledge, however.

On the other hand, why would a fountainhead deliberately dam up the works by refusing to share knowledge? Besides, isn't the job of a literal fountainhead to benefit all the people who congregate around it? How could a fountainhead of knowledge not love benefitting others?

Yeah, fountainhead is an apt word to describe someone who loves sharing knowledge.

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  • Doesn't fountainhead mean "source"? – Pacerier Mar 12 '15 at 4:14
  • @Pacerier: Yes. I'd say it's a metaphorical synonym. Jesus, for example, was a fountainhead of both knowledge and wisdom, and he evidently loved spilling over, as it were, into the lives of others with what he called "living water." See John 4:10 ff., and 7:37-38. Part of his modus operandi was to tell stories about people with whom his audience could identify and draw spiritual lessons from. He called these stories, "parables" (literally, "words alongside," which underscores the importance of applying his words to our lives by laying his words alongside our lives & then applying them). Don – rhetorician Mar 12 '15 at 10:50

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