- -or
- 1.
suffix forming nouns denoting a person or thing performing the action of a verb, or an agent more generally (actor; escalator; tailor) (see also -ATOR, -ITOR).
Etymology: L -or, -ator, etc., sometimes via AF -eour, OF -eumlor, -eumlur
2.
suffix forming nouns denoting state or condition (error; horror).
Etymology: L -or -oris, sometimes via (or after) OF -or, -ur
3.
suffix forming adjectives with comparative sense (major; senior).
Etymology: AF -our f. L -or
4.
suffix US = -OUR(1).
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I. \\_ə(r) sometimes |ȯ(ə)r or |ȯ(ə)\ noun suffix (-s)Etymology: Middle English -or, -our, from Old French -eor, -eur & Latin -or; Old French -eor, -eur, partly from Latin -or; partly from Latin -ator, from -atus -ate + -or: one that does a (specified) thinggrantor
alternator
occlusor
II. noun suffix (-s)elevator
Etymology: Middle English -or, -our, from Old French -eur, from Latin -ordemeanor
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-or1a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, directly or through Anglo-French, usually denoting a condition or property of things or persons, sometimes corresponding to qualitative adjectives ending in -id4 (ardor; honor; horror; liquor; pallor; squalor; torpor; tremor); a few other words that originally ended in different suffixes have been assimilated to this group (behavior; demeanor; glamour).Usage. While the -or spelling of the suffix -or1 is characteristic of American English, there are occasional exceptions, as in advertising copy, where spellings such as colour and favour seek to suggest the allure and exclusiveness of a product. The spelling glamour is somewhat more common than glamor - not actually an instance of -or1,but conformed to it orthographically in the course of the word's history.In British English -our is still the spelling in most widespread use, -or being commonly retained when certain suffixes are added, as in coloration, honorary, honorific, laborious, odoriferous. The English of the Southern Hemisphere (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) tends to mirror British practice, whereas Canadian English shares with the U.S. a preference for -or but with -our spellings as freely used variants.The suffix -or2 is now spelled -or in all forms of English, with the exception of the word savior, often spelled saviour in the U.S. as well as in Britain, esp. with reference to Jesus.-or2a suffix forming animate or inanimate agent nouns, occurring originally in loanwords from Anglo-French (debtor; lessor; tailor; traitor); it now functions in English as an orthographic variant of -er1, usually joined to bases of Latin origin, in imitation of borrowed Latin words containing the suffix -tor (and its alternant -sor). The association with Latinate vocabulary may impart a learned look to the resultant formations, which often denote machines or other less tangible entities which behave in an agentlike way: descriptor; plexor; projector; repressor; sensor; tractor.[ME < AF, OF -o(u)r < L -or-, s. of -or, extracted from -tor -TOR by construing the t as the ending of the ptp. (hence L factor maker, equiv. to fac(ere) to make + -tor, was analyzed as fact(us), ptp. of facere + -or); merged with AF, OF -ëo(u)r < L -ator- -ATOR; cf. -EUR]* * *
-or /-ər/suffix(esp in words derived from Latin and legal terms) denoting a person or thing that performs an action or function, as in actor, elevator\—In most words indicating an agent either -or is standard or -er is standard, but in some both endings are acceptableORIGIN: L -or or -ator* * *
or1 «awr; unstressed uhr», conjunction.1. a word used to express a choice or a difference, or to connect words or groups of words of equal importance in the sentence: »You may go or stay. Is it sweet or sour?
╂[Middle English or, reduction of other, perhaps fusion of Old English oththe or, and āther either]or2 «awr», preposition, conjunction.╂[Old English ār early, confused in sense with
ere]or3 «awr», noun.Heraldry. the gold or yellow in coats of arms.-or,suffix added to verbs to form nouns.1. person or thing that _____s: »Actor = a person who acts. Accelerator = a thing that accelerates.
2. act, state, condition, quality, or characteristic, especially in words from Latin, as in error, horror, labor, terror.Usage -or, -our. American spelling prefers -or in such words as color, governor, honor. When referring to Jesus Christ, Saviour is frequently spelled with the u, but in other senses without it Glamour still survives, but the u is rapidly being dropped from this word. British usage prefers -our spellings, but not in certain derivatives. Thus words like honorific, honorary, and humorous are so spelled on both sides of the Atlantic.OR «awr», noun.a computer logic circuit or operation in which two connected items are true if either one is true or if both are true.╂[< or, conj.]OR (no periods),1. operating room.2. operations research.3. Oregon (with postal Zip Code).* * *
Isuffix (forming nouns) denoting a person or thing performing the action of a verb, or denoting another agentescalator | governor | resistor
Origin:IIsuffix forming nouns denoting a state or conditionerror | pallor | terror
Origin:from Latin, sometimes via Old French -or, -urIIIsuffix forming adjectives expressing a comparative senseminor | major
Origin:via Anglo-Norman French from Latin* * *
/ɚ/ noun suffix: a person or thing that does a specified actionelevator
translator
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(in nouns) a person or thing that•
actor
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-ora termination of words, and form of various suffixes, of Latin origin.Latin long ō in early OF. was represented by a close sound between (ō) and (ū), written variously o and u, as in L. honōrem, OF. onor, onur. In AngloFr. the sound sank into (ū) and came c 1300 to be written ou (onour). In continental Fr., on the other hand, the sound passed at length into eu = ö (oneur, honneur). The earliest adopted words in ME. had o or u (onor, onur), but the regular representation after 1300 was that of AngloFr. ou (onour, honour). In many instances this is still retained; but, at the Renascence, many of the -our words, which in other respects were like their L. originals, were conformed to the L. in -or; and nearly all words taken then or later directly from L. were spelt -or, though, even in these words, there was at first a considerable vacillation between -or and -our. In Great Britain the traditional -our is still written in many of the words in which it was retained in the 16th c., though not a few of these, as ancestor, author, error, horror, prior, senator, tailor, are now spelt with -or, which spelling is extended in American usage to all the -our words.This termination appears in the following suffixes:1. -or (formerly often -our), representing ultimately L. -or, -ōrem, in nouns of condition from intr. vbs. in -ēre, less usually from other vbs., as error, horror, liquor, pallor, stupor, tenor, terror, torpor, tremor, etc. Such of these as existed in ME. were formerly spelt with -our, e.g. errour, horrour, licour, tenour. In other words of the same class, as ardour, favour, fervour, humour, labour, rigour, valour, vigour, as also in some words not directly connected with extant L. verbs, as colour, honour, odour, -our is generally retained in British usage, but American usage spells these also with -or: ardor, favor, labor, color, honor, etc.2. -or (formerly often -our), repr. L. -or, -ōrem of agent-nouns, formed on stems identical with the ppl. or ‘supine’ stems of verbs. Of these there are three varieties: a. Those repr. L. agent-nouns other than those in -ātor, -ētor, -itor, -ītor; as actor, assessor, author, captor, censor, confessor, doctor, elector, extensor, factor, flexor, inventor, lictor, oppressor, pastor, possessor, professor, rector, sculptor, sponsor, successor, transgressor, tutor, victor. These are of different ages, going back to OF. words in -or, -ur, AF. in -our = F. -eur, or L. in -or. So far as they existed in ME., they were then spelt -our, e.g. actour, assessour, authour, censour, confessour, dettour, doctour, etc.; they are now all conformed to the L. spelling in -or.b. Agent-nouns in L. -ātor, -ētor, -itor, -ītor, in coming down in living use into OF., were regularly reduced from -ātōr-em, etc., through -edor to -eör, -eür, AF. -eour, which became in ME. -our, and in F. -eur, and thus fell together with those from simple -ōr-em in a. Such are barrator, cessor, (:—cessatōr-em), conqueror, donor, emperor (imperātōr-em), governor, juror, lessor, solicitor, vendor, visitor (visitātōr-em). To this group also belongs saviour (AF. sauveöur:—OF. salveör, salvedor, L. salvātōr-em), which has preserved the vowel before -our. To these may be added agent-nouns formed in Fr. or AF. on the vb. stem, in imitation of those in -eör, -eur, -our, repr. L. -ātōrem, etc., as purveyor, surveyor, tailor, grantor, warrior (AF. werreyour, f. werreier to war). From want of evidence it is sometimes uncertain whether the agent-noun was already formed in late L. in -ātor, -itor, or in Fr. after these suffixes had been reduced to -eör and -eur, AF. -our.c. Agent-nouns in -ātor, -ētor, -itor, -ītor, -ūtor, adopted in later times in Fr., or in Eng., retain t, appearing in French as -ateur, -iteur, etc., and have now in Eng. the same written form as in L., e.g. administrator, agitator, creator, curator, dictator, equator, gladiator, imitator, legislator, navigator, spectator, translator, vindicator; orator, procurator, senator; auditor, creditor, editor, janitor, monitor, servitor; executor. These are of different ages: some from OF. or AF. (in which case they formerly had -our, as creatour, creditour, dictatour, oratour, servitour); some of later formation immediately from L., which have had the -or form from the first. The pronunciation varies greatly, the stress being sometimes as in the L. nominative (creˈator, ˈcreditor), sometimes on the second syllable before the stressed vowel of the AF. and L. accusative (on which a secondary stress fell originally in ME.), as in ˈauditor (ˌaudiˈtour, ˌaudīˈtōrem), ˈorator (ˌoraˈtour, ˌōrāˈtōrem), ˈsenator (ˌsenaˈtour, ˌsēnāˈtōrem), ˈservitor (ˈserviˈtour, ˌservīˈtōrem), eˈxecutor (eˌxecuˈtour, eˌxecūˈtōrem), sometimes corresponding with that of the Eng. vb., as adˈministrator, ˈagitator, ˈimitator, ˈprosecutor, or otherwise shifted, as ˈprocurator. In some cases two forms exist, as cuˈrator after L. nom., ˈcurator after ˌcuraˈtour, ˌcūrāˈtōrem.d. -or is sometimes an alteration of another suffix, as of L. -ārius, F. -ier, AF. -er, in bachelor, chancellor, heritor, or of Eng. -er:—OE. -ere, in sailor, bettor.The frequent occurrence of ME. -our, mod. -or, in legal terms denoting the person acting, as opposed to the person acted upon in -é, -ee, e.g. lessor lessee, grantor grantee, mortgageor mortgagee, has imparted a kind of technical or professional character to the ending, and explains the differentation of sailor, one who sails professionally, from sailer. In ME. there was a tendency to confuse the endings -er and -our (helped prob. by the OF. declension nom. -ère:—L. -ātor, acc. -or, -ur, -eur, L. -ātōrem); thus butcher, dicer, fletcher, jailer, jester, juggler, porter, etc. are found also with the ending -our. On the other hand, in a large number of words, the original -our, -or has, since the 15th c., been exchanged for the -er of agent-nouns of English derivation; such are barber, broker, chanter, diviner, labourer, pleader, preacher, robber, rimer or rhymer, in all which the earlier -our, -or, is the etymological form.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
