DictionaryRoot: -or
Latin

-or

a person or thing that acts

Forms

  • -or
  • -oris — The longer Latin form used to express “of” such a person or thing.

Origin

In action words, Latin -or usually belongs to the older endings -tor and -sor.

Note

The final letters alone do not prove this meaning: Latin also had a separate -or ending for qualities and states.

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A large handwritten fraction 3/4, with a restrained colored-pencil oval around only the upper number 3, isolates the numerator without explanatory wording.
noun

numerator

NOO-muh-ray-ter/ˈnuːməreɪtər/

The top number in a fraction.

Etymology

A numerator is literally a “counter” or “numberer.” In a fraction, the upper number does the counting: it states how many of the fractional parts are being taken.

Full entry

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