Receiver

How to spell receiver

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce receiver

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does receiver mean?

1. nounA piece of equipment that takes in a signal and converts it into sound, pictures, or data, such as a radio or telephone handset.
2. nounA person who takes or accepts something that is sent, given, or handed over.
3. nounAn official appointed by a court to manage the property and affairs of a bankrupt or failing business.
4. nounA player whose role is to catch the ball, especially in American football.

Receiver in a sentence

• She lifted the receiver and dialled the office.

• The courier needed the receiver to sign for the parcel.

• The failing airline was placed in the hands of a receiver.

• The quarterback threw a long pass to the open receiver.

• The satellite receiver in the loft feeds every television in the house.

• Police charged him as a receiver of stolen goods.

Where does receiver come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb recipere, meaning 'to take back' or 'to receive', formed from the prefix re- 'back' and capere 'to take'. The Latin combining form turned capere into -cipere, and English inherited the slightly altered spelling 'ceive' through Old French verbs such as receivre. From the verb 'receive', recorded in English from the 1300s, the agent noun 'receiver' grew, naming a person or device that takes something in. The same capere root sits inside a large family of English words including 'capture', 'capable', and 'accept', which all share the idea of taking or holding. The notorious spelling trap is the 'ei' order: the old rule 'i before e except after c' applies here, because the c demands 'cei', not 'cie'.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• ceiv (from Latin capere: to take)
• -er (agent noun suffix: one who or that which)