factor English · revision 4043

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1432|origins=la facere}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈfæk.tə/, US /ˈfæk.tɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|factour|t=agent, representative]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|frm|facteur|t=agent, representative]] (Old French faitor “doer, author, creator”),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[la|factor|t=doer, maker, performer]], in Medieval Latin “agent”,^(Etymonline) an agent noun from the past participle stem of [[m|la|facere|t=to do]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[ine-pro|*dʰeh₁-|alt=*dhe-|t=to set, put]].^(Etymonline) The verb is from the noun.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) It is related to [[fact]], [[factory]] and [[factotum]].^(Hoad 1986)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A commercial agent, one who buys or sells for another: 1432 in Barnhart,^(Barnhart 1988) the early 15th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) The New Oxford gives “doer, perpetrator” and the Scots “agent” as the late Middle English senses.^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In commerce it was especially a commission merchant (1491),^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and a servant of the third class in the East India Company (1600).^(OED 1989) In Scotland a factor is the steward of a landed estate, who collects rents and lets land (1561).^(OED 1989)^(Wright 1898) The mathematical sense, one of the quantities multiplied together, is from the 1670s,^(Etymonline) and it led to “a circumstance producing a result”, attested in Coleridge's Lay Sermons (1816).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The verb “to act as an agent” is from the 1610s,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and “to resolve into factors” from 1837 in Etymonline^(Etymonline) and 1848 in Barnhart, as American English.^(Barnhart 1988) ''To factor in'', to include as a factor, is a later use.^(MW Collegiate)^(AHD) Johnson defined it as “an agent for another”.^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1432 – an agent.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1491 – a mercantile agent.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1561 – a Scottish estate steward.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1610s – verb, to act as agent.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1670s – in mathematics.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1816 – a contributing circumstance.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1837 – to resolve into factors.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Something that contributes to a result.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # One who acts for another; an [[agent]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A person or firm that buys accounts receivable or lends money on them.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # In mathematics, one of two or more quantities that divide a given quantity without a remainder.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(Scotland)'' The steward of an estate.^(OED 1989)^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To find the factors of a number or expression.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To include or exclude as a factor: ''factor in inflation''.^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[factorable]]

+ * [[factorship]]

+ * [[factorability]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fact]]

+ * [[faction]]

+ * [[factory]]

+ * [[fashion]]

+ * [[factotum]]

+ * [[manufacture]]

+ * [[benefactor]]

+ * [[feat]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}