| 释义 |
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2024-ator, suffix. -ator is attached - to verbs ending in -ate to form nouns, with the meaning "person or thing that does or performs (the action of the verb)'':agitate + -ator → agitator (= person who agitates; vibrate + -ator → vibrator (= thing that vibrates);narrator;generator;
mediator;
incubator.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2024-ator, - a combination of -ate 1 and -or 2 that forms nouns corresponding to verbs ending in -ate 1,denoting a human agent (agitator;
mediator;
adjudicator) or nonhuman entity, esp. a machine (incubator;
regulator;
vibrator) performing the function named by the verb. Cf. -tor, -or2.
- Latin -ātor, origin, originally not a suffix, but the termination of nouns formed with -tor -tor from verbs whose stems ended in -ā-; in English, Latin loanwords ending in -ātor have been reanalyzed as derivatives of the past participles in -tus (see -ate1) and a suffix -or (see -or2), and many new English nouns derived from English verbs based on Latin past participles (e.g., vibrator from vibrate)
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers:: -ator suffix forming nouns - a person or thing that performs a certain action: agitator, escalator, radiator
Etymology: from Latin -ātor; see -ate1 -or1 |