Senator

How to spell senator

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce senator

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does senator mean?

1. nounA member of a senate, the upper house of a legislature.

Senator in a sentence

• The senator voted against the proposed budget.

• Each senator represents a state for a six-year term.

Where does senator come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin senator, the title for a member of the Roman senatus, the governing council of the early Republic. Both words trace back to senex, which literally meant 'old man', because the senate was originally conceived as an assembly of elders whose age was thought to confer wisdom and authority. English took the word in through Old French (senateur) in the medieval period, with the spelling later pulled back toward its tidy Latin form ending in -ator. The same senex root quietly survives in everyday words like 'senile' and 'senior', all carrying that idea of age. Remembering that a senator was first an elder of the senate helps fix the single -e- in the middle and the -or ending rather than -er.

How the word is built

• senat- (council of elders, from senex 'old man')
• -or (agent noun: one who)