supervisor
/ˈsuːpəˌvaɪzə/SOO-pur-vigh-zur
/ˈsupɚˌvaɪzɚ/SOO-pur-vigh-zur
Meaningone that oversees
Common meaning: a person or thing that supervises
- superover, above
- visto seeLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1988 · scan
- oragent ending: the doer, or the device that does it
‘over, above’ + ‘to see’ → supervisor
Journey through time
- Latinvideō, vīdī, vīsum‘to see’
- Englishsupervise‘to watch over and direct others' work’
- Englishformed in English from supervisesupervisor‘a person or thing that supervises’ · 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: one that oversees. It can be inferred from any of: supervise.
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 supervise + -or (inferred: this exact word is not listed in our dictionaries).
Roots
- videō, vīdī, vīsum Latin “to see”
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