initiate
n. countablen. someone who has recently been accepted into a secret or special group. They have usually learned secrets or skills that most people do not know yet.
n. a person who has been recently admitted to a group, organization, or sphere of knowledge, often through a formal ritual or specific instruction.
The new initiates learned the rules of the club.
During the ceremony, each initiate received a handbook containing the private history of the society.
While the public sees only the final performance, the initiates are privy to the rigorous training and philosophical foundations that define the order's identity.
Borrowed from Latin initiātus, perfect passive participle of initiō (“to begin, originate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from initium (“a beginning”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), from initus (“an entrance, coming in, approach”) + -ium, from ineō + -tus, from in- + eō (“to go”). Cognate with French initier.
From a substantivization of the adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Cognate with French initié (“an initiate, neophyte”).
Borrowed from Latin initiātus, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.
Often used in the context of religious, fraternal, or highly specialized professional groups.