A wise and trusted counselor or teacher
"After retiring, she became a mentor to young architects, guiding them through their first projects with wisdom and trust."
In plain English: A mentor is someone who gives you advice and guidance to help you grow.
"My former professor has been an excellent mentor to me throughout my career."
serve as a teacher or trusted counselor
"The famous professor mentored him during his years in graduate school"
"She is a fine lecturer but she doesn't like mentoring"
To act as someone's mentor
"As her senior colleague, he agreed to mentor her through the rigorous certification process."
In plain English: To mentor someone means to guide and support them as they learn new skills or navigate life challenges.
"My senior colleague will mentor me through my first year at the company."
Odysseus's trusted counselor. He was assigned the responsibility of raising Odysseus's son Telemachus while Odysseus was away fighting in Troy.
"Mentor served as Odysseus's trusted counselor and took charge of raising his son Telemachus during the Trojan War."
From French mentor, from Ancient Greek Μέντωρ (Méntōr, "Mentor"), a mythological character in the Odyssey, whose name, a historical name from Ancient Greece, shares the same root as English mind. Cognate to Sanskrit मन्तृ (mantṛ, "advisor, counselor") and Latin monitor ("one who admonishes"), and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European monéyeti (compare Latin moneō ("to warn"), causative form of men- ("to think").