visitor
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differ significantly from the current version. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Pronunciation
- IPA: UK /ˈvɪz.ɪ.tə/, US /ˈvɪz.ɪ.t̬ɚ/[1]
Etymology
It is an agent noun from visit and partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman visitour, Old French visiteor, visitor, inspector,[2][3][4] from visiter, to visit.[2][4]
Earliest recorded meaning
One who visits officially to inspect, such as a churchman appointed to visit religious houses: 1426 in the OED;[5] the late 14th century in Etymonline.[2]
Semantic evolution
A person who visits the poor or sick from charitable motives is from about 1430,[5] and one who pays a social visit to a person or household from 1607.[5] Etymonline notes that a visitor stays longer than a caller and shares more of the social life of the house.[2] The official sense survives for the person with a right of supervision over a college or institution (1553).[5]
Timeline
- 1426 – an official inspector.[5]
- c. 1430 – a charitable visitor.[5]
- 1553 – a supervisor of an institution.[5]
- 1607 – a social visitor, a guest.[5]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A person who visits a person or place; a guest, caller or tourist.
- A person with the right to inspect and supervise an institution such as a college.
Word family
- visitorial
Related words
References
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press