Etymologically
Log in

organizer

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 05:43. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈɔɹɡənaɪzɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English organize + -er.[2][3][4][5] Organize is from Old French organiser, and directly organizare,[4] from Latin organum (“instrument, organ”),[4] which is from Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon, “instrument; organ of the body; musical instrument”).[6][4] In embryology the word follows German Organisator.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who arranges an event or activity, or one skilled at organizing: 1801, in W. Dupré's Lexicographia-neologica Gallica.[2][7] Etymonline has the word from 1795,[4] and the first edition of the OED from 1849.[8]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline sees the sense of someone skilled at arranging things and taking responsibility by 1864.[4] In the United States, from 1874, an organizer was also a person employed to organize a trade union or a political party,[2][7] and the Shorter Oxford records the word for an organizer of criminal activity.[3] Things were called organizers from 1924, first in the United States: a purse, notebook or piece of office furniture with compartments for storing items, and later a personal organizer;[2][3] Etymonline dates the filing apparatus of a desk to 1920.[4] In embryology, from 1925, the word translates Hans Spemann's term for a region of an embryo that causes induction.[2][3] A medieval-music sense, a singer of an organum, was used only briefly from 1880.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 1795 – first date in Etymonline.[4]
  • 1801 – a person who arranges an event or activity.[2][7]
  • 1874 – a person who organizes a union or political party (originally U.S.).[2]
  • 1880 – in medieval music, a singer of the organum (obsolete).[2]
  • 1924 – an object with compartments for storing or filing things.[2]
  • 1925 – in embryology, a region of an embryo that induces development.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person who organizes or arranges an event or activity: The organizers of the festival expect a large crowd.[9][7][2]
  2. A person employed to recruit members for a trade union or political party.[7][2]
  3. A container, case or notebook with compartments for keeping things in order; also a personal organizer.[9][2][3]
  4. (embryology) A part of an embryo that causes the development of neighbouring cells; an inductor.[9][7][2]

Word family

  • personal organizer

References

  1. ^ 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 f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins