commandant
/ˌkɒmənˈdɒnt/kah-muhn-DAHNT
/ˌkɑmənˈdɑnt/kah-muhn-DAHNT
Meaningone in command
Common meaning: the officer in charge of a place
- comwith, together
- mandto entrust, orderLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1106 · scan
- antadjective ending: being
‘with, together’ + ‘to entrust, order’ → commandant
Journey through time
- Latinmandō, mandāvī‘to entrust, order’
- Frenchcom
- Englishcommand‘to order’
- Englishformed in English from commandcommandant‘the officer in charge of a place’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Formed in English from command + -ant.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), COMMAND, p.123 · scan
Roots
- mandō, mandāvī Latin “to entrust, order”
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app