# cursor
## English
### Alternative forms

* cursour (obsolete)

### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cursor (“runner”), from currō (“run”) + -or (agentive suffix). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA: /ˈkɜːsə/, [ˈkʰɜːsə]
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American, Canada) IPA: /ˈkɜɹsəɹ/, [ˈkʰɝsɚ]
* Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)sə(ɹ)

### Noun

cursor (plural cursors)
* A part of any of several scientific or measuring instruments that moves back and forth to indicate a position.
** 1679, Roger Palmer, 1st Earl of Castlemaine, Joseph Moxon, The English globe being a stabil and immobil one, performing what the ordinary globes do, and much more, page 150:Besides, the Reader must know, if a Brazen graduated Semi-Circle were hung on the Poles here, with an erected moveable Pin, or Cursor on it, there would be no need of the Holes […] in each Parallel of the Globe, for the true Composing of it […]
* (graphical user interface) A moving icon or other representation, usually called a pointer, of the position of the pointing device.
* (computing) An indicator, often a blinking line or bar and sometimes called a caret, indicating where the next insertion or other edit will take place.
* (databases) A reference to a row of data in a table, which moves from row to row as data is retrieved by way of it.
* (programming) A design pattern in object oriented methodology in which a collection is iterated uniformly.
    Synonym: iterator pattern

#### Derived terms

* cursorjacking
* cursorless
* firehose cursor
* postcursor
* precursor

#### Related terms

* courier
* current
* cursive
* cursory
* recursive

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

cursor (third-person singular simple present cursors, present participle cursoring, simple past and past participle cursored)
* (intransitive, computing) To navigate by means of the cursor keys.
** 1990 May 28, InfoWorld, volume 12, number 22:The only other problem is that there's a nagging tendency for the highlight to overrun when cursoring through file lists.

### See also

* electronic display
* GUI
* pointer

### Anagrams

* Curros

## Latin
### Etymology

From currō (“run”) +‎ -sor.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkur.sor/, [ˈkʊrs̠ɔr]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈkur.sor/, [ˈkursor]

### Noun

cursor m (genitive cursōris); third declension
* a runner, racer
* a courier, messenger, post
* a slave, who ran before the chariot of a grandee, forerunner

#### Declension

Third-declension noun.

#### Related terms

* currāx
* curriculum
* currīlis
* currō
* currūlis
* currus
* cursātiō
* cursilitās
* cursim
* cursiō
* cursitātiō
* cursitō
* cursō
* cursōrius
* cursuālis
* cursūra
* cursus

#### Descendants

* English: cursor
* French: curseur
* Italian: cursore
* Norman: curseu (Jersey)
* Portuguese: cursor
* Romanian: cursor
* Spanish: cursor

### References

* “cursor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* "cursor", 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)
* cursor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* “cursor”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “cursor”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin cursōrem.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /kuʁˈsoʁ/ [kuhˈsoh]
* (Brazil) IPA: /kuʁˈsoʁ/ [kuhˈsoh]
** (São Paulo) IPA: /kuɾˈsoɾ/
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /kuʁˈsoʁ/ [kuχˈsoχ]
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /kuɻˈsoɻ/
* (Portugal) IPA: /kuɾˈsoɾ/
* (Portugal) IPA: /kuɾˈsoɾ/
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /kuɾˈso.ɾi/

### Noun

cursor m (plural cursores)
* cursor (part of scientific instruments that indicates a value or position)
* (graphical user interface) cursor (icon representing the position of a pointing device)

#### Related terms

* correr
* cursivo
* curso

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French curseur.

### Noun

cursor n (plural cursoare)
* cursor

#### Declension
## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cursōrem.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kuɾˈsoɾ/ [kuɾˈsoɾ]
* Rhymes: -oɾ
* Syllabification: cur‧sor

### Noun

cursor m (plural cursores)
* (computing) cursor
    Synonym: puntero

#### Related terms

* correr
* cursivo
* curso

### Further reading

* “cursor”, 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