surveyor
/səˈveɪə/sur-VAY-ur
/sɚˈveɪɚ/sur-VAY-ur
Meaningone who surveys
Common meaning: a person who measures land or buildings
- surover, aboveSkeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), p. 830 · scan
- veyto seeLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1988 · scan
- oragent ending: the doer, or the device that does it
‘over, above’ + ‘to see’ → surveyor
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 survey + -or.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), SURVEY, p.614 · scan
Roots
- surveier Anglo-French “look over”
- videō, vīdī, vīsum Latin “to see”
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app