Con`nois*seur" (?; 277), n. [F.
connaisseur, formerly connoisseur, fr.
connaître to know, fr. L. cognoscere to
become acquainted with; co- + noscere,
gnoscere, to learn to know. See Know, amd
cf. Cognizor.] One well versed in any subject; a
skillful or knowing person; a critical judge of any art,
particulary of one of the fine arts.
The connoisseur is "one who knows," as
opposed to the dilettant, who only "thinks he knows."
Fairholt.