maven

From Yiddish מבֿין‎ (meyvn, “expert, connoisseur, know-it-all”), from Hebrew מֵבִין‎ (mevín, “one who understands, connoisseur, expert”), from הֵבִין‎ (hevín, “to understand”).

• enPR: māvən, IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪvən/
• Rhymes: -eɪvən

maven (plural mavens)

1. (chiefly US) An expert in a given field.
   • 2002, Joseph H. Boyett, Jimmie T. Boyett, The Guru Guide to Marketing, page 207,

     Connectors know people—lots of people. Mavens know about things. They know, or find out first, what is going on. Connectors, says Gladwell, need mavens to tell them what to buzz about.

   • 2006 January 23, Virginia Robbins, Opinion: Eight Steps to Leadership, Computerworld, page 19,

     Besides an executive sponsor, you need to find a technology maven, someone within the company who understands the new technology. A maven, as defined in Malcolm Gladwell′s The Tipping Point, is a person who has both information and the social skills to pass it along. The challenge in a situation such as this one is that the maven might be outside of IT.

   • 2010, Rachel Davis Mersey, Can Journalism Be Saved?: Rediscovering America's Appetite for News, page 118,

     The goal for any media company is to be a maven—and therefore highly adept at using multiple channels of social media communication well.

maven c

1. singular definite of mave