optimist in masculine

Question

is there a word in spanish optimisto for a guy

Answer 1

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/optimist

No- most "- ista" words do not change the suffix- only the article changes to denote the gender

El optimista, la optimista

El dentista, la dentista

El periodista, la periodista

Some others:

http://www.laspalabras.net/que_terminan_en_ista.php

Good answer, Bosque :) - FELIZ77, Nov 5, 2014

Gracias, Feliz. :) - bosquederoble, Nov 5, 2014

I love the "rose tinted spectacles" :))) - ian-hill, Nov 5, 2014

Answer 2

I would propose 'futbolista' as the most extreme example since the vast majority of football players (soccer players as I must keep remembering to translate for the benefit of our American contributors) are male (or at least claim to be).

Before I recently decided to try & learn Spanish properly I was on holiday (vacation, excuse me) in Spain at one of those family resorts with large swimming pools dominating the central area. I was bemused to see a very manly man wearing a t-shirt proclaiming him to be 'socorrista'. From schoolboy French I could figure out that 'socorrista' means something to do with help (French, 'au secours' = 'socorro'), but I reckoned the '-ista' meant he'd come to work without his kit & had required to borrow the t-shirt from a large female colleague (co-worker)...

Nope, socorrista = lifeguard m & f

Yes, you don't say "socorristo". - LuisCache, Nov 5, 2014

:) - ian-hill, Nov 5, 2014

Answer 3

-ista.

1. sufijo usado en adjetivos que habitualmente se sustantivan, y suelen significar 'partidario de' o 'inclinado a' lo que expresa la misma raíz con el sufijo -ismo.

Comunismo - Comunista.

Optimismo - Optimista.

2.. sufijo. Forma sustantivos que designan generalmente a la persona que tiene determinada ocupación, profesión u oficio.

Periodista, taxista.