Administer

How to spell administer

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce administer

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does administer mean?

1. verbTo manage or be responsible for the running of an organisation, system, or set of affairs.
2. verbTo formally give or apply something, such as a medicine, a test, or an oath.

Administer in a sentence

• A board of trustees was appointed to administer the charity.

• The nurse was trained to administer the injection safely.

• The company hired a specialist to administer its pension scheme.

• The clerk will administer the oath to each new witness.

Where does administer come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin administrare, which combined ad-, meaning 'to' or 'toward', with ministrare, meaning 'to serve, attend, or manage'. That second part traces back to minister, the Latin word for a servant or attendant, which itself grew from minus, meaning 'less', so a minister was originally a lesser person who served a greater one. English took the word in during the late 1300s by way of Old French aministrer, first in the sense of managing affairs and dispensing justice. The same minister root still powers the modern noun 'minister' and the word 'ministry', and the spelling trap lives in that middle: writers must remember the full mini-ster sequence rather than dropping the unstressed 'i'. Over time the meaning broadened from running an estate or office to also include giving out something carefully, such as medicine or an oath.

How the word is built

• ad- (to)
• minister (servant, one who serves/manages)
• (from Latin ministrare, to serve)