investor

/ˌɪnˈvestə/in-VEH-stur

/ˌɪnˈvɛstɚ/in-VEH-stur

Meaninga person or thing that invests

Common meaning: a person or thing that invests (inferred)

inin, into; (before adjectives) not
vestclothing, a garmentLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1981 · scan
oragent ending: the doer, or the device that does it

‘in, into’ + ‘clothing, a garment’ → investor

Journey through time

Latininuestire‘to clothe’source
Frenchinvestir‘to invest, install’source
Englishinvest‘to put money into something for profit’
Englishformed in English from investinvestor‘a person or thing that invests (inferred)’ · today

Sources & notes

Inferred source: no dictionary we use has an entry for this exact word. Its history is worked out from closely related, listed words in the same family, and we are trusting that link, so bear that in mind. Inferred meaning: a person or thing that invests. It can be inferred from any of: invest, disinvest.

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 invest + -or (inferred: this exact word is not listed in our dictionaries).

Roots

vestis, -is Latin “clothing, a garment”

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