The Suffix -or: The Suffix -or, Part 1

Don’t be a procrastinator — learn this list of words, known as agent nouns, referring to people performing an action or a job — all ending in -or.

Here are links to our lists for this collection: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. author
    a person who writes professionally
    Chang-rae Lee is the author of two novels, A Gesture Life and Native Speaker. Native Speaker
    In Latin, auctor refers to an expert or the creator of a work. It's also the root of authority.
  2. traitor
    someone who betrays his country by committing treason
    “Yes. They thought he was a traitor to Congo and an ally of the West. That he’s a puppet to American mining companies.” Endangered
    Traditor is the Latin word for "betrayer," built from the words for "to deliver" or "to hand over" in the sense that if you betray an ally or compatriot you hand them over to your enemies.
  3. tutor
    a person who gives private instruction
    When all of my test-prep books were done, I got a personal tutor to shore me up for the exam. It’s Kind of a Funny Story
  4. dictator
    a ruler who is unconstrained by law
    “You want to be a...dictator? You want to control everyone in the world?” Warcross
    A dictator is an absolute ruler who does not answer to a legislature, a judiciary, or any other authority. It's built from the Latin verb dicere, meaning "to tell," because a dictator's orders are the basis for the entire government.
  5. orator
    a person who delivers a speech
    Frederick Douglass, the American abolitionist orator and publisher, and Antonio Maceo, the celebrated military hero of the Cuban independence movement, are rarely if ever mentioned together. Scientific American (Oct 12, 2020)
    Where dicere, above, means "to tell," as in "to instruct" or "to give an order," the verb orare means "to speak," specifically in a public way with the intent of changing people's minds or advocating for a cause.
  6. censor
    a person authorized to suppress unacceptable material
    Yet prison censors went through each of those newspapers every day with scissors, clipping articles that they deemed unsafe for us to see. Long Walk to Freedom
  7. suitor
    a man who courts a woman
    Mom heaved the dramatic sigh of a mother from an Indian movie whose daughter desires to marry a simple peasant instead of the rich, suitable suitor. Love, Hate & Other Filters
    Suitor originally referred to the plaintiff in a lawsuit, and around 1400 came to mean a "follower or disciple". About 150 years later, its definition also included a man wooing a woman with the intention of marrying her.
  8. conspirator
    a member of a plot to carry out some harmful or illegal act
    He was the commander of a vast shadowy army, an underground network of conspirators dedicated to the overthrow of the State. 1984
    Conspirare literally means "to breathe together," with the implication that two or more people are huddled close together to concoct whatever plot they've been accused of.
  9. donor
    a person who makes a gift of money, property, etc.
    He might still be here if some anonymous donor hadn’t paid his $175 adoption fee. The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl
    Donor means "giver or presenter" in Latin.
  10. solicitor
    a British lawyer who gives legal advice
    So the following year Julie's solicitor wrote to the board seeking compensation and threatening a claim for damages. BBC (Jul 1, 2021)
  11. auditor
    a qualified accountant who inspects accounting records
    The IRS commissioner, Charles Rettig, wrote that the IRS needs more money to hire and train auditors in order to balance the number of audits across all income levels. The Guardian (Oct 18, 2020)
    Literally "a listener," an auditor was a legal authority who heard or studied evidence to make a determination in court.
  12. captor
    a person who entraps and holds someone else
    She accepted her situation at face value, and never spoke ill of her benefactor—or more accurately, her captor, for she was clearly Goddard’s prisoner, even though she might not see it that way. Scythe
    The Latin verb capere, meaning "to take," has given us captor, as well as capture, captive, and captivate.
Created on Wed Oct 14 23:37:55 EDT 2020 (updated Thu Apr 21 09:50:20 EDT 2022)

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