# mentor

Pronunciation: say "MEN-tor" US /ˈmɛn.toɹ/, UK /ˈmɛn.tɔː/; AUS say "MEN-taw" /ˈmen.toː/

## Noun

1. A wise and trusted counselor or teacher, especially one who guides a less experienced person.
   - Simple: An experienced person who gives helpful advice and guidance to someone with less experience.
   - _Throughout her residency, the young doctor leaned on her mentor for advice._
   - _A good mentor offers honest feedback without crushing a beginner's confidence._

## Verb

2. To guide and advise a less experienced person, acting as their counselor or teacher.
   - Simple: To guide and support someone with less experience by sharing advice and skills.
   - _He volunteered to mentor a struggling junior employee through her first project._
   - _Senior researchers mentor graduate students throughout their dissertations._

## Origin

From French mentor, from Ancient Greek Méntōr, a character in the Odyssey whose name shares a root with English mind. It is cognate with Sanskrit mantṛ ("advisor") and Latin monitor ("one who admonishes"), and perhaps ultimately goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to think" (compare Latin moneō, "to warn").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mentor (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).