Detector

How to spell detector

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce detector

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does detector mean?

1. nounA device that senses and signals the presence of something, such as smoke, metal, or motion.

Detector in a sentence

• The smoke detector in the hallway needs a fresh battery.

• Security staff swept the room with a metal detector before the event.

Where does detector come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb detegere, which literally meant 'to uncover' or 'to lay bare', formed from de-, carrying the sense of reversal or removal, and tegere, meaning 'to cover'. From the supine stem came the agent noun detector, meaning 'one who uncovers'. English took 'detect' from this Latin source in the late 1400s, originally with the idea of exposing something hidden or revealing wrongdoing. The noun 'detector', built with the agent suffix -or, appeared later and shifted from a person who finds things out to a device that senses and signals the presence of something. The same tegere root for 'cover' also lies behind the word 'protect', so a detector is, at heart, a thing that un-covers what is concealed.

How the word is built

• de- (un-, reversing)
• tect (from Latin tegere, to cover)
• -or (agent suffix: a thing or person that does the action)