Inventor

How to spell inventor

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce inventor

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does inventor mean?

1. nounA person who designs and creates a new device, process, or product.

Inventor in a sentence

• The inventor filed a patent for the folding bicycle frame.

• As a self-taught inventor, she built her first prototype in the garage.

Where does inventor come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb invenire, which literally meant 'to come upon' or 'to find', formed from the prefix in- ('upon' or 'into') and venire ('to come'). From that verb Latin built the agent noun inventor, meaning 'one who finds or discovers'. The idea travelled naturally from simply finding something that already existed to the modern sense of devising something entirely new, since to discover and to create were closely linked in the older mind. English took the word in during the 1500s, partly through French, keeping the Latin -or agent ending rather than the more common native -er. That Latin -or ending is the very thing that trips writers up today, because the ear hears the same sound as in everyday -er words like 'painter' or 'teacher'. The same venire root still appears in relatives such as 'venture', 'convene', and 'event'.

How the word is built

• in- (upon, into)
• vent (come, from Latin venire)
• -or (agent suffix: one who does)