the.com/soloist

means A performer who takes on a piece of music or a role entirely alone, without a group or accompaniment carrying the load.

from Built from 'solo,' borrowed from Italian, where it means simply 'alone' — tracing back to the Latin 'solus,' same root that gives us 'solitary' and 'solitude.' The '-ist' is the standard suffix for 'one who does the thing,' tacked on in English once 'solo' settled in as a noun for a single-performer piece. So the word is barely disguised Latin for 'the alone one' — which is exactly the job description.