Etymologically
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distributor

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 00:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /dɪˈstrɪbjətə(r)/, /dɪˈstrɪbjʊtə(r)/[1]
  • US: /dɪˈstrɪbjət̬ɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English distribute + -er, originally spelled distributer, and later conformed to the Late Latin agent noun distribūtor, from distribuō (“to divide, deal out in portions”);[2][3][4] compare French distributeur.[2] The Latin verb is formed from dis- (“apart, individually”) and tribuō (“to assign, grant, give”).[3][2][5] Etymonline dates the Latinized spelling distributor to the 1570s.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who distributes something: 1526, in William Bonde's Pylgrimage of Perfection;[2][6] the Shorter Oxford dates the word to late Middle English.[7]

Semantic evolution

Puttenham (1589) used distributor for a figure of speech that sets out the parts of a description one by one, a use that did not last.[2] In business it came to mean an agent who markets goods, especially a wholesaler.[7][6] From the mid-19th century it was also a thing that distributes, such as a seed distributor (1853),[2][7][6] and in the 20th century an electric cable from which lines run to individual premises (1901)[2] and the device in an engine that sends current to each spark plug in turn, recorded from 1905 by the OED[2] but from 1866 by Etymonline.[3]

Timeline

  • 1526 – a person who distributes.[2][6]
  • 1570s – the Latinized spelling distributor.[3]
  • 1589 – a figure of speech, in Puttenham (obsolete).[2]
  • 1853 – a machine or appliance that distributes.[2]
  • 1901 – an electric supply cable feeding individual premises.[2]
  • 1905 – the ignition distributor of an engine.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person or thing that hands out or spreads something: a leaflet distributor.[8][6][2]
  2. A business or agent that markets goods, especially a wholesaler supplying retailers in an area.[8][6][7]
  3. A device in a petrol engine that passes the high-tension current to each spark plug in the order of firing.[8][6][2]
  4. An electric cable from which lines run to the premises of individual users.[2]

Word family

  • distributorship
  • subdistributor

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins