Proctor

How to spell proctor

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce proctor

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does proctor mean?

1. nounA person who supervises students during an examination to ensure rules are followed.
2. nounA senior university officer responsible for discipline and order, notably at Oxford and Cambridge.
3. verbTo supervise students during an examination.

Proctor in a sentence

• noun

  The proctor walked between the desks collecting the answer sheets.

• noun

  The proctor enforced college discipline and reported breaches to the dean.

• verb

  Two teachers volunteered to proctor the final exam in the gymnasium.

• noun

  Each proctor checked the candidates' identification before the test began.

• noun

  As proctor, she presided over formal academic ceremonies each term.

• verb

  Graduate assistants often proctor large lecture-hall tests.

Where does proctor come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Proctor is a worn-down form of the Latin word procurator, which meant 'a manager' or 'one who takes care of business on another's behalf', built from procurare 'to look after' (pro 'on behalf of' plus curare 'to care for', from cura 'care'). In medieval English the long word was squeezed down to 'proctor', a habit also seen in 'proxy', which sprang from the very same procuracy. By the late 1300s it named an agent who acted for someone else, especially someone managing legal or church affairs, and the title fixed itself onto university officials at Oxford and Cambridge who kept order and discipline. From the role of supervising students grew the modern academic sense of an official who watches over an examination. The spelling trap is the ending: it is agent-noun '-or' (matching its Latin '-or' ancestor), not '-er', and there is no 'u' left over from the buried 'procurator'.

How the word is built

• proctor (contracted from procurator: one who takes care of affairs)
• -or (agent noun suffix)