Compressor

How to spell compressor

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce compressor

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does compressor mean?

1. nounA machine or device that squeezes air, gas, or another substance into a smaller volume or higher pressure.
2. nounAn audio device or effect that reduces the dynamic range of a signal by lowering its loudest parts.

Compressor in a sentence

• The workshop compressor powered every pneumatic tool on the bench.

• She ran the vocal track through a compressor to even out the volume.

• A faulty compressor in the fridge stopped it from cooling properly.

• The producer set the compressor to tame the loud peaks in the mix.

Where does compressor come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb comprimere, meaning 'to press together', which was formed from com- 'together' and premere 'to press' or 'to squeeze'. The agent ending -or was added to name the thing that performs the action, giving 'something that presses together'. English drew on this Latin pattern, and by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the term settled on machinery that squeezes air or gas into a smaller volume, especially as steam and refrigeration technology developed. The same premere root sits inside a whole family of everyday words such as 'press', 'compress', 'pressure' and 'depress', and recognising that shared 'press' core helps fix the double s in the middle of the spelling. The single tricky point is the ending: it takes -or, the Latin agent suffix, rather than the more common English -er, which is the slip most writers have to guard against.

How the word is built

• com- (together)
• press (from Latin premere: to press)
• -or (agent suffix: thing that does)