-tore

Forms

-tore m (feminine -trice, masculine plural -tori, feminine plural -trici)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin -tor, the Latin suffix of agent nouns formed from verbs (arator, genitor), which the Italian dictionaries cite in its accusative form.^{[3][4][5][1][6]} Many Italian words with the suffix come straight from Latin words with the suffix, and Italian has gone on forming new ones from its own verbs.^[7][8] The same suffix gave French -eur and -teur, Spanish -dor and Sicilian -turi.^[1]

The Treccani describes the Latin suffix as the ⟨-t-⟩ of the participle stem of many verbs followed by the suffix -or.^[2] Where the participle stem ended in ⟨-s-⟩, the variant -sor arose, the source of Italian -sore (difensore, incisore, professore).^[2][8][9] The feminine -trice continues the Latin ending -trix, and the popular feminine -tora is formed on the analogy of the feminine nouns in ⟨-a⟩.^[2]

Wiktionary and the Old Latin Dictionary trace the Latin suffix further back, through Proto-Italic *-tōr, to Proto-Indo-European *-tōr, from earlier *-tor-s.^[1][6] The long vowel of the nominative spread to the other cases by analogy, and in final position Latin then shortened it to ⟨-or⟩.^[1] Cognates are Sanskrit -तृ (-tṛ) and Ancient Greek -τωρ (-tōr), with -τήρ (-tḗr) from another ablaut grade.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The suffix forms masculine nouns from verbs, often also used as adjectives, for the person who does the action of the verb, habitually or once, or for the machine or instrument that does it.^[7][2] In derivatives of first-conjugation verbs it is preceded by -a- (guidatore, lavoratore), in those of the other conjugations by -i- (guaritore, vincitore).^[7] It is very productive in present-day Italian, also in coinages of the moment whose sense is clear from the base.^[8]

Machines and appliances are mostly named with the feminine: asciugatrice, lavatrice, mitragliatrice, trebbiatrice.^[2] The masculine is much rarer in this use (ascensore, calcolatore, radiatore).^[2][10] The suffix is also added to nouns that have no matching verb (decespugliatore).^[7]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forms masculine agent nouns, often also adjectives, from verbs: the person who does the action (giocatore, lavoratore, scrittore).^{[7][3][4][8][9]}
2. Forms nouns for a machine or instrument that does the action (calcolatore, miscelatore, trasmettitore).^[7][2]

Word family

• lavoratore
• giocatore
• calcolatore
• cacciatore
• muratore
• peccatore
• scrittore
• salvatore
• trasportatore

Related words

• -trice
• -sore
• -ore
• Latin -tor

Usage notes

After a verb stem ending in -d the suffix usually takes the form -sore (incisore, estensore).^[9][5][8] The feminine is -trice, and the popular -tora is also heard.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio, Il Nuovo De Mauro, online ed., dizionario.internazionale.it
8. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana