suitor
noun /ˈsuːtə(r)/
/ˈsuːtər/
- (old-fashioned) a man who wants to marry a particular woman
- He was an ardent suitor.
- In the play, the heroine has to choose between three suitors.
- (business) a company that wants to buy another company
- a merger proposal from an unwanted suitor
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘member of a retinue’): from Anglo-Norman French seutor, from Latin secutor, from sequi ‘follow’.