ironist

The word 'ironist' is a modern English formation, built upon the noun 'irony'. The core concept of irony traces back to the ancient Greek 'eirōneía', which described a rhetorical tactic of feigned ignorance or dissimulation, famously employed by Socrates. This passed into Latin as 'ironia' and entered English in the 16th century. The suffix '-ist', of Greek origin, was later appended to create a term for a person who habitually employs this rhetorical or literary device, solidifying in the 18th century to denote a practitioner of irony.

Structure: iron (irony) + ist (one who practices) - iron: From the English word 'irony', ultimately from the Latin 'ironia' and Greek 'eirōneía' (dissimulation, feigned ignorance). - ist: A suffix of Greek origin via Latin and French, forming agent nouns meaning 'one who practices or is concerned with something'.