Architect

How to spell architect

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce architect

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does architect mean?

1. nounA person who designs buildings and oversees their construction.
2. nounA person who plans, creates, or is chiefly responsible for something.

Architect in a sentence

• The architect drew up detailed plans for the new office block.

• She was the chief architect of the company's turnaround strategy.

• They hired a local architect to redesign the kitchen extension.

• Historians call him the architect of the peace agreement.

Where does architect come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek arkhitekton, which joined arkhi- meaning 'chief' or 'master' with tekton, meaning 'builder' or 'carpenter'; literally, then, it described a 'master builder'. The Greeks used it for the person who directed the workers raising a structure, the one in charge rather than the one wielding the tools. Latin took it up as architectus, and from there it passed into French as architecte before reaching English in the middle of the 1500s. The same tekton root, meaning a craftsman who builds, also lies hidden in the word 'technical', through the related Greek tekhne for skill or craft. The spelling trap is the 'ch' that sounds like a hard 'k', a tell-tale sign of the Greek origin, plus the unstressed middle vowel in the '-tect' ending.

How the word is built

• archi- (chief, master)
• tect (builder, from Greek tekton)