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.
66 / 76
noun
spectator
SPEK-tay-ter/ˈspekteɪtər/
A person who watches an event or performance.
Etymology
The watching verb and agent ending make a spectator literally a person who watches. This identifies someone's role as an onlooker, rather than a participant in the event.
Related word entries
- actor
- administrator
- aggressor
- ancestor
- assessor
- auditor
- benefactor
- calculator
- cantor
- capacitor
- collector
- communicator
- compressor
- confessor
- constructor
- contractor
- contributor
- creditor
- curator
- cursor
- depressor
- detector
- dictator
- director
- distributor
- donor
- editor
- educator
- equator
- executor
- exhibitor
- factorContributing element
- factorBusiness agent
- factorReceivables buyer
- fervor
- fornicator
- impostor
- indicator
- inspector
- instructor
- interceptor
- interrogator
- inventor
- locator
- malefactor
- mediator
- modulator
- motorMechanical drive
- motorSteady progress
- motorMuscular movement
- narrator
- numerator
- oppressor
- persecutor
- preceptor
- precursor
- predator
- predictor
- professor
- protector
- protractor
- receptor
- rector
- sculptor
- sector
- spectator
- sponsor
- stupor
- successor
- supervisor
- torpor
- tractor
- transgressor
- translator
- valor
- valorous