aficionado

An aficionado is a person who is highly devoted or knowledgeable about a particular subject, activity, or pastime. The term comes from Spanish aficionado, meaning a devotee or admirer, from aficionar meaning to incline toward or to like.

In English usage, aficionado implies both enthusiasm and a certain level of discernment or expertise, but it is not a professional title. It is commonly applied to areas such as sports, arts, wine, cuisine, and film, and can describe a person who has studied, collected, or regularly participates in the activity. It is used as a noun, as in "a jazz aficionado," and the plural "aficionados" is common for mixed groups.

The feminine form in Spanish is aficionada; English generally uses the same form for all genders or simply "aficionados" for a group. Compared with connoisseur, aficionado stresses passion and sustained interest rather than formal credentials. It can carry a sense of insider status and, in some contexts, pretension, so tone matters in formal writing.