# rector
## English
### Alternative forms

* rectour (obsolete)

### Etymology

Inherited from Middle English rectour, rector, from Old French rector, rectour and Latin rēctor.

### Pronunciation

* (General American) IPA: /ˈɹɛktɚ/
* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈɹɛktə/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)
* Hyphenation: rec‧tor

### Noun

rector (plural rectors)
* In the Anglican Church, a cleric in charge of a parish and who owns the tithes of it.
    Hypernym: cleric
** 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
* In the Roman Catholic Church, a cleric with managerial as well as spiritual responsibility for a church or other institution.
    Hypernym: cleric
* (Eastern Orthodoxy, uncommon) A priest or bishop in the Orthodox Church who is in charge of a parish or in an administrative leadership position in a theological seminary or academy.
    Hypernym: cleric
* In a Protestant church, a pastor in charge of a church with administrative and pastoral leadership combined.
    Hypernym: cleric
* A headmaster or headmistress in various educational institutions, e.g., a university.
* (Scotland) An official in Scottish universities who heads the university court and is elected by and represents the student body.

#### Derived terms

* lay rector
* missionary rector
* rector magnificus

#### Related terms

* rectorate
* rectorial
* rectory
* rectrix

#### Translations
### Anagrams

* Corter

## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin rēctōrem.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [rəkˈto]
* IPA: (Valencia) [rekˈtoɾ]
* Audio (Central):(file)

### Adjective

rector (feminine rectora, masculine plural rectors, feminine plural rectores)
* ruling
* guiding, regulating, directing

### Noun

rector m (plural rectors, feminine rectora)
* rector
* dean
* ruler, director, head

#### Derived terms

* rectorat

### Further reading

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

## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin rēctor.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈrɛk.tɔr/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: rec‧tor
* Rhymes: -ɛktɔr

### Noun

rector m (plural rectoren or rectors)
* rector

#### Descendants

* Indonesian: rektor

## Latin
### Etymology

From regō (“to steer, to guide; to rule”) +‎ -tor.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈreːk.tor/, [ˈreːkt̪ɔr]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈrek.tor/, [ˈrɛkt̪or]

### Noun

rēctor m (genitive rēctōris, feminine rēctrīx); third declension
* guide, leader
* driver (of a horse, an elephant, a wagon, etc.)
* director, ruler, master, governor
* tutor, instructor, teacher, mentor

#### Declension

Third-declension noun.

#### Descendants

* → Bulgarian: ректор (rektor)
* → Byzantine Greek: ῥαίκτωρ (rhaíktōr)
* → Dutch: rector
** → Indonesian: rektor
* → English: rector
* → French: recteur
* → German: Rektor
* Italian: rettore
* → Norman: recteu (Jersey)
* → Old Irish: rechtaire
** Irish: reachtaire
* Portuguese: reitor
* → Polish: rektor
** → Russian: ре́ктор (réktor)
*** → Armenian: ռեկտոր (ṙektor)
* → Romanian: rector
* → Spanish: rector
* → Swedish: rektor

### References

* “rector”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “rector”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "rector", 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)
* rector in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. the head of the state: rector civitatis (De Or. 1. 48. 211)

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin rēctor or German Rektor or French recteur.

### Noun

rector m (plural rectori)
* rector (headmaster in various educational institutions)

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

Borrowed from Latin rēctor.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /reɡˈtoɾ/ [reɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
* Rhymes: -oɾ
* Syllabification: rec‧tor

### Adjective

rector (feminine rectora, masculine plural rectores, feminine plural rectoras)
* governing, directing

### Noun

rector m (plural rectores, feminine rectora, feminine plural rectoras)
* rector

#### Derived terms

* rectorado
* rectorar

### Further reading

* “rector”, 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