A wizard is literally a "wise-ard" — using the same dismissive suffix as drunkard and coward. The word started as an insult meaning "know-it-all."
A person who practises magic or has magical powers. Also used informally for someone exceptionally skilled at something.
From Middle English wysard, from wys ('wise') + the suffix -ard (often pejorative, as in 'drunkard' and 'coward'). Originally meant 'a wise man, sage' before taking on magical connotations in the 16th century. Key roots: *weid- (Proto-Indo-European: "to see, to know"), wīs (Old English: "wise, learned, knowing"), -ard (Old French/Germanic: "agent suffix (often pejorative)").
The suffix -ard in "wizard" is the same one found in "drunkard," "coward," "bastard," and "sluggard" — it typically carries a pejorative sense, implying excess or contempt. So "wizard" originally had a faintly mocking tone, something like "wise-ass" or "know-it-all." The word's rehabilitation — from insult to Gandalf — is one of the great image makeovers in linguistic history. In British slang, "wizard" also became an adjective meaning "excellent" during World War II: RAF pilots would call