Benefactor

How to spell benefactor

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce benefactor

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does benefactor mean?

1. nounA person who gives money or other help to a person, institution, or cause.

Benefactor in a sentence

• An anonymous benefactor paid the entire hospital bill.

• The library named its new wing after its wealthiest benefactor.

Where does benefactor come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes straight from the Latin benefactor, meaning 'one who does good', which combines the adverb bene 'well, good' with facere 'to do, to make'. The phrase bene facere literally described the act of doing something well or kindly toward another person, and the agent noun named the person performing that good deed. English adopted it in the 1500s, keeping the Latin spelling almost untouched, which is why it ends in -or rather than the more common English -er. The same bene root supplies a whole family of generous words such as benefit, benevolent, and benediction, while the facere root sits inside factory, manufacture, and fact itself. Remembering that the ending is the Latin agent suffix -or, as in actor and donor, is the surest guard against writing the tempting but wrong -er.

How the word is built

• bene- (well, good)
• fact (from facere: to do, to make)
• -or (agent noun: one who does)