Counsellor

How to spell counsellor

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce counsellor

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does counsellor mean?

1. nounA person trained to give guidance or therapy on personal, psychological, or practical problems.
2. nounA lawyer who advises clients and may represent them, especially in certain legal systems.

Counsellor in a sentence

• The clinic assigned her a counsellor to talk through her work stress.

• The firm assigned a senior counsellor to handle the contract dispute.

• The school employs a full-time counsellor to support struggling students.

• As a barrister and counsellor, she advised the company on its merger.

Where does counsellor come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin noun consilium, which meant 'advice', 'consultation', or 'a deliberating body', itself related to consulere, 'to take counsel' or 'to deliberate'. From this the Latin agent noun consiliarius described someone who advises, and that passed into Old French as conseillier, a person who gives counsel. English borrowed it in the 1200s and 1300s, settling on the spelling 'counsellor' for one who offers guidance, whether legal, personal, or therapeutic. The base noun 'counsel' (advice) is the key to the spelling, and it must not be confused with 'council' (an assembly), which is why 'counsellor' (an adviser) and 'councillor' (a member of a council) are such a notorious pair. In British and Canadian usage the l doubles before the ending, giving the four-syllable counsellor, whereas American English keeps a single l in counselor.

How the word is built

• counsel (advice, from Latin consilium)
• -or (agent suffix); the British form doubles the l before the suffix

British and American spelling

Counsellor is the British spelling. American English spells it counselor.

Words that sound like counsellor

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• councillor: An elected member of a local government council.