preceptor

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

preceptor

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• præceptor (archaic)
• præceptour (obsolete, rare)
• preceptour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English preceptor, preceptur, from Latin praeceptor (“commander; instructor”), from the verb praecipiō + -or (“-er: forming agent nouns”), from prae- (“pre-, fore-: before”) + capiō (“to take; to get, to take in, to understand”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈsɛp.tə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiˌsɛp.tɚ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈsep.tə/

Noun

preceptor (plural preceptors)

1. A teacher or tutor. [from 15th c.]
   • c. 1793, Edward Gibbon, Memoirs, Penguin, published 1990, page 64:

     A man who had thought so much on the subjects of language and education was surely no ordinary preceptor.

   • 1905, George Bernard Shaw, The author's apology from Mrs. Warren's Profession, page 61:

     We shall resume our studies later on; but just now I am tired of playing the preceptor; and the eager thirst of my pupils for improvement does not console me for the slowness of their progress.

2. (historical) The head of a preceptory of Knights Templar. [from 15th c.]
3. (medicine, chiefly US) A doctor who gives practical training to medical students, nurses etc. [from 19th c.]

   Coordinate term: orientee

Derived terms

• preceptorial
• preceptorship
• preceptress

Anagrams

• perceptor