esper - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From ESP +‎ -er from ESP (“extrasensory perception”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛsˌpɝ/

esper (plural espers)

1. A person who practices the development of psychic ability.
2. (chiefly science fiction) A person who has extrasensory perception.

   • 1942 June, Edward Elmer Smith, “Storm Cloud on Deka”, in Astonishing Stories‎^[1], volume 3, number 4:

     I don't know why anybody would be spying on me, either, but—I'm neither a Lensman nor an esper, but I'd swear that somebody's peeking over my shoulder half the time.

   • 1950 August, Alfred Bester, “The Devil's Invention”, in Astounding Science Fiction‎^[2], volume 45, number 6, page 139:

     But Espers can’t pick up any EK brain pattern farther than the horizon. It’s direct wave transmission. Even large objects cannot be penetrated. A building, say, or a—

• (person having extrasensory perception): telepath

• prees, peers, Reeps, spere, Prees, Peres, pères, Perse, speer, Spree, spree, Peers, per se, Serpe, perse

Probably a deverbal of esperar.

esper m (oblique plural espers, nominative singular espers, nominative plural esper)

1. hope

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “spērāre”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 12: Sk–š, page 165