mechanic vs operant

mechanic

noun
  • Someone who builds or repairs machinery, a technician; now specifically, someone who works with and repairs the mechanical parts of a motor vehicle, aircraft or similar. 

  • A cheat who manipulates the cards or dice. 

  • A manual worker; a labourer or artisan. 

  • A hitman. 

  • A device, command, or feature which allows someone to achieve a specific task. 

operant

noun
  • An operative person or thing. 

  • Any of a class of behaviors that produce consequences by operating (i.e., acting) upon the environment. 

adj
  • That operates to produce an effect. 

How often have the words mechanic and operant occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )