protector

English

Alternative forms

• protectour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English protectour, from Anglo-Norman protectour, protector, from Latin prōtēctor, from prōtegō (“shield, protect”). Displaced native Old English sċildend.

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: prə-tĕk'tər, IPA^(key): /pɹəˈtɛktɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈtɛktə/
• Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: pro‧tec‧tor

Noun

protector (plural protectors)

1. Someone who protects or guards, by assignment or on their own initiative.
   • 2005 January 3, Jon Huntsman Jr., quoted in “Highlights from Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s inauguration speech”, Deseret News, 4 January 2005:

     I stand before you in the spirit of pure public service — not as a protector of the status quo, but as an agent of change.

2. A device or mechanism which is designed to protect.
3. One who prevents interference. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
4. A state or other subject under international law, exercising a protectorate over another subject in international law.
5. (UK, historical) One having the care of the kingdom during the king's minority; a regent.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 122, column 2:

     My Lord Protector, ’tis his Highnes pleaſure, You do prepare to ride vnto S. Albons, / Where as the King and Queene do mean to Hawke.

6. (Roman Catholicism) A cardinal, from one of the more considerable Roman Catholic nations, who looks after the interests of his people at Rome; also, a cardinal who has the same relation to a college, religious order, etc.

Synonyms

• (one who protects or guards): guard, sentry, (obsolete) advowrer

Derived terms

• athletic protector
• cardioprotector
• chemoprotector
• cryoprotector
• earthquake protector
• edge protector
• geroprotector
• Hector protector
• hepatoprotector
• immunoprotector
• lord protector
• lyoprotector
• mattress protector
• nephroprotector
• neuroprotector
• osmoprotector
• personal protector
• photoprotector
• phytoprotector
• pocket protector
• protectorless
• protectorly
• punt protector
• radioprotector
• renoprotector
• screen protector
• sheet protector
• surge protector
• thermoprotector
• vasoprotector

Related terms

• Lord Protector (also shortened to protector)
• protect
• protection
• protectoral
• protectorate
• protectorship
• protectory
• protectress
• protectrice

Translations

someone who protects or guards

• Arabic: حَامٍ m (ḥāmin)
• Armenian: պահապան (hy) (pahapan)
• Azerbaijani: qoruyucu, havadar (az), himayədar
• Bengali: রক্ষী (bn) (rokkhi), মহাফেজ (bn) (mohaphej)
• Bulgarian: защитник (bg) m (zaštitnik)
• Catalan: protector (ca) m
• Chamorro: a'adahi
• Czech: ochránce (cs) m
• Danish: beskytter c
• Dutch: beschermer (nl) m, beschermheer (nl) m, behoeder (nl) m
• Faroese: verndari m
• Finnish: suojelija (fi)
• French: protecteur (fr) m, gardien (fr) m
• Galician: protector m
• German: Beschützer (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: προστάτης m (prostátēs)

• Irish: cosantóir m
• Italian: protettore (it) m, protettrice (it) f
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: حافیز (ḧafîz), پاڕێزگار (parrêzgar)

  Northern Kurdish: parastvan f, parastvan f

• Latin: patrōnus m, patrōna f, prōtēctor m, prōtēctrīx f, tūtor m, fautor m, praeses (la) m
• Old Church Slavonic: параклитъ m (paraklitŭ)
• Old English: sċildend m
• Ottoman Turkish: صاحب (sâhib)
• Portuguese: protetor (pt) m
• Romanian: protector (ro) m or n, protectoare f
• Russian: защи́тник (ru) m (zaščítnik), защи́тница (ru) f (zaščítnica)
• Sanskrit: नाथ (sa) m (nātha)
• Scottish Gaelic: tèarmannair m
• Spanish: protector (es) m, protectora (es) f, valedor m
• Swedish: beskyddare (sv) c, protektor c
• Turkish: hami (tr), koruyucu (tr), mevla (tr), sahip (tr), veli (tr)
• Ukrainian: захисник m (zaxysnyk), захисниця f (zaxysnycja)
• Urdu: محافظ (muhāfiz)

a state exercising a protectorate

• Russian: проте́ктор (ru) (protéktor)

a mechanism which is designed to protect

• Bulgarian: предпазител (bg) m (predpazitel), протектор m (protektor)
• Catalan: protector (ca) m
• Finnish: suoja (fi), suojamekanismi
• French: protecteur (fr)
• Portuguese: protetor (pt) m
• Romanian: protector (ro) m or n, protectoare f
• Russian: предохрани́тель (ru) m (predoxranítelʹ), проте́ктор (ru) m (protɛ́ktor)
• Spanish: protector (es) m

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin prōtēctōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [pɾu.təkˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [pɾo.təkˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [pɾo.tekˈtoɾ]

Adjective

protector (feminine protectora, masculine plural protectors, feminine plural protectores)

1. protective (serving to protect)
   • 2020 January 25, “La Xina pugna per contenir el virus”, in La Vanguardia‎^[1]:

     Ahir mateix els principals centres van demanar públicament donacions de tota mena de material protector, incloent-hi màscares sanitàries, ulleres protectores, guants o bates quirúrgiques.

     Yesterday the main centers publicly asked for donations of all kinds of protective material, including sanitary masks, protective goggles, gloves or surgical gowns.

Noun

protector m (plural protectors, feminine protectora)

1. protector (someone who protects or guards)

Noun

protector m (plural protectors)

1. protector (a device or mechanism which is designed to protect)

Related terms

• protecció
• protegir

Further reading

• “protector” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “protector”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “protector” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “protector” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

From Latin prōtēctor, from prōtegō (“to shield, protect”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

protector m (plural protectoren, diminutive protectortje n)

1. a protector, guardian, regent etc.
2. (rare) title of certain orphanage governors

Synonyms

• behoeder m
• beschermer m
• beschermheer m
• protecteur m (close French cognate)

Derived terms

• lord-protector m
• protectorschap n

Related terms

• protectie
• protectoraat n

Latin

Etymology

From prōtegō (“protect, defend”) +‎ -tor (agent noun suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /proːˈteːk.tor/, [proːˈt̪eːkt̪ɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /proˈtek.tor/, [proˈt̪ɛkt̪or]

Noun

prōtēctor m (genitive prōtēctōris); third declension

1. protector (all senses)
2. guardian; guard
3. (politics) a high-ranking honorary title in the Roman Dominate, originally a bodyguard of the emperor

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	prōtēctor	prōtēctōrēs
genitive	prōtēctōris	prōtēctōrum
dative	prōtēctōrī	prōtēctōribus
accusative	prōtēctōrem	prōtēctōrēs
ablative	prōtēctōre	prōtēctōribus
vocative	prōtēctor	prōtēctōrēs

Descendants

• Catalan: protector
• → Danish: protektor
• → Dutch: protector
• French: protecteur
• Galician: protector
• Italian: protettore
• Portuguese: protetor
• Romanian: protector
• → Russian: протектор (protektor)
• Spanish: protector
• → Swedish: protektor

References

• “protector”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• protector in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• protector in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Portuguese

Noun

protector m (plural protectores, feminine protectora, feminine plural protectoras)

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of protetor. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

Adjective

protector (feminine protectora, masculine plural protectores, feminine plural protectoras)

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of protetor. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin prōtēctor or French protecteur.

Adjective

protector m or n (feminine singular protectoare, masculine plural protectori, feminine and neuter plural protectoare)

1. protective

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	protector		protectoare		protectori	protectoare
	definite	protectorul		protectoarea		protectorii	protectoarele
genitive- dative	indefinite	protector		protectoare		protectori	protectoare
	definite	protectorului		protectoarei		protectorilor	protectoarelor

Noun

protector m (plural protectori)

1. protector

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	protector	protectorul		protectori	protectorii
genitive-dative	protector	protectorului		protectori	protectorilor
vocative	protectorule			protectorilor

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin prōtēctor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɾoteɡˈtoɾ/ [pɾo.t̪eɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: pro‧tec‧tor

Adjective

protector (feminine protectora or protectriz, masculine plural protectores, feminine plural protectoras or protectrices)

1. protective

   una familia protectora ― a protective family

Derived terms

• ángel protector
• cinta adhesiva protectora

Noun

protector m (plural protectores, feminine protectora or protectriz, feminine plural protectoras or protectrices)

1. protector (someone who protects or guards)

Noun

protector m (plural protectores)

1. protector (a device or mechanism which is designed to protect)

Derived terms

• protector genital

Related terms

• protección
• protectorado
• protectoría
• protectorio
• proteger

Further reading

• “protector”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10