Selector

How to spell selector

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce selector

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does selector mean?

1. nounA person or device that chooses or picks something out from a larger group or range.

Selector in a sentence

• The gear selector on the new car felt stiff and reluctant to move.

• As the national team selector, she travelled the country watching young players.

Where does selector come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word builds on the Latin verb seligere, meaning 'to pick out' or 'to choose', which combined se- 'apart' with legere 'to gather or read'. The past participle selectus gave English the verb 'select' in the sixteenth century, with the literal sense of setting something apart from the rest. The agent ending -or, itself from Latin, was later attached to name a person or device that does the selecting. By the nineteenth and twentieth centuries 'selector' had come to cover both human roles, such as a person who picks a sports team, and mechanical or electronic parts that choose between settings, like a gear selector. The spelling trap sits at the end: it takes the Latinate -or, not the more common everyday -er ending, so writers who default to -er produce the wrong form.

How the word is built

• select- (from Latin selectus: chosen, picked out)
• -or (agent suffix: one that does)