Pedantic is comes from the french [ pédant] and Italian [ pedante], and probably originated from the Greek [paiduein] meaning "to instruct." The word originally meant a holder of a degree or school master, but has since become pejorative to mean a person who presents his knowledge pretentiously or to excess. It is also used to describe those who hold leaning from books to such a vaunted status that they forsake practical logic and common reasoning. [ back