inspector
/ˌɪnˈspektə/in-SPEK-tur
/ˌɪnˈspɛktɚ/in-SPEK-tur
Meaningone who looks into
Common meaning: an official who checks things
Other meanings: a police rank
- inin, into; (before adjectives) not
- spectto look at, watchLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1737 · scan
- oragent ending: the doer, or the device that does it
‘in, into’ + ‘to look at, watch’ → inspector
Journey through time
- Latinspeciō (spiciō), spexī, spectum‘to look at, watch’
- Englishinspect‘to look at closely to check condition’
- Englishformed in English from inspectinspector‘an official who checks things’ · 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 inspect + -or.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), INSPECT, p.296 · scan
Roots
- speciō (spiciō), spexī, spectum Latin “to look at, watch”
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app