Processor

How to spell processor

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce processor

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does processor mean?

1. nounThe part of a computer that carries out instructions and performs calculations.
2. nounA machine, person, or organisation that treats, prepares, or handles something through a series of operations.

Processor in a sentence

• The laptop ran slowly because its processor was several years old.

• The dairy sells its milk to a regional cheese processor in the next county.

• A faster processor handles video editing without stuttering.

• The payment processor charges a small fee on every transaction.

Where does processor come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built from 'process' plus the agent suffix '-or', which marks the thing or person that performs an action. 'Process' itself descends from the Latin processus, meaning 'an advance' or 'a going forward', the past participle of procedere, formed from pro 'forward' and cedere 'to go or move'. The same cedere root surfaces in a whole family of English words, including 'proceed', 'recede', and 'concede', so the spelling 'cess' in the middle is no accident. English took 'process' through Old French in the 1300s, but 'processor' as an agent noun is far more recent, appearing in the industrial age for machines that treat or refine materials and then dominating the computing era from the mid-twentieth century. The classic spelling trap is the ending: it takes the Latinate '-or', not the more common English '-er', because it follows the pattern of its formal Latin roots.

How the word is built

• pro- (forward)
• cess (from Latin cedere: to go, move)
• -or (agent suffix: one that does)