elector

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English electour,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin ēlēctor (“chooser, selecter”),^[5][6][7][2] an agent noun formed on ēlēctus (“chosen”), the past participle of ēligō (“to pick out, choose”).^[6][7][8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged takes the English word through Middle French electeur from Medieval Latin,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford allows a French source beside the Latin.^[9] It belongs with elect and election.^[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who has a vote in choosing someone for an office: the Middle English Dictionary's first quotation is from Capgrave's Chronicle (before 1464), where Richard, chosen emperor, pays the electors large sums for their votes.^[2] The OED's first record is from 1467, in a guild document,^[5] and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1425–75.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The general sense, a person entitled to vote in any election, narrowed in Britain and Ireland to one legally qualified to vote for members of parliament, and in the United States to a member of the electoral college.^[5][9][10] From about 1530 the word was used for each of the German princes entitled to take part in electing the Holy Roman Emperor,^[5][9][3] often written with a capital.^[10][9] Johnson (1755) gave both senses, defining the second as a prince with a voice in choosing the German emperor.^[11] Brewer recalled that the college of electors fell apart when Napoleon broke up the old German empire.^[12] In English law the Knights Electors were four gentlemen chosen by the sheriff to elect the rest of a jury, a term recorded in 1628.^[5]

Timeline

• before 1464 – one who has a vote in choosing someone for an office.^[2][5]
• c. 1530 – one of the German princes entitled to elect the Holy Roman Emperor.^[5]
• 1628 – Knights Electors, jurors who chose the rest of a jury (obsolete).^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person entitled to vote in an election, especially a political one.^[3][10][5]
2. In the United States, a member of the electoral college, which formally elects the President and Vice President.^[10][13][5]
3. (history) Any of the princes of Germany entitled to take part in electing the Holy Roman Emperor.^[3][10][9]

Word family

• nonelector
• electoral
• electorate

Related words

• elect
• election

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
9. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Brewer, E. Cobham (1898), Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, new ed., London: Cassell
13. ^ Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West