seafarer

noun

Etymology: From Middle English *se-farere (suggested by se-farende, sa farinde (“sea-faring”)) equivalent to sea + farer (“traveler”) and to seafare + -er. Cognate with Middle Dutch seevarer, whence Modern Dutch zeevaarder (“seafarer”), West Frisian seefarder (“seafarer”), German Seefahrer (“seafarer”), Swedish sjöfarare (“seafarer”).

1. Someone whose occupation is operating a ship or boat at sea, for either civilian or military purposes.

   “An intergovernmental panel will draw up plans to relieve seafarers who have been stuck at sea during a crisis.”

2. Anyone who travels by sea.

   “Clearly the earliest Australians were seafarers who landed there tens of thousands of years ago; our quest to know more about them — did they come from Melanesia? what kind of boats did they have? were they blown out to sea by a storm? — is ongoing.”