A person who drives a motor vehicle, especially a car.
From 'motor' (Latin 'motor' meaning 'mover') combined with the agent suffix '-ist' (one who does something). The word was coined around 1900s as automobiles became common, and it replaced older terms like 'automobilist.'
The word 'motorist' was basically invented when cars became popular—before that, nobody needed a word for 'person who drives a car' because cars didn't exist, which shows how language grows with technology!
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