professor

See also: prófessor, and Professor

English

Alternative forms

• professour (archaic)

Etymology

Derived from Anglo-Norman proffessur, from Latin professor (“declarer, person who claims knowledge”), from the past participle stem of profiteor (“profess”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈfɛsə/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɹəˈfɛsɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsə(ɹ)

Noun

professor (plural professors)

2. The most senior rank for an academic at a university or similar institution.

   Synonyms: prof, Prof.

   • 2014 November 22, Michel Clasquin-Johnson, “What is the difference between a research professor and a professor”, in Quora‎^[1]:

     Professor is what you become after teaching for twenty to thirty years.

3. (US, Philippines, informal) A teacher or faculty member at a college or university regardless of formal rank.
4. (archaic) One who professes something, such as a religious doctrine.
   • 1660, William Petty, Reflections upon some Persons and Things in Ireland, p. 170/1:

     As for Religion, I have not said, much lesse meant irreverently of it, or of the Professors thereof.

   • 1897, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (transl.) The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, Introduction, p. v:

     This period in which Abraham the Jew lived was one in which Magic was almost universally believed in, and in which its Professors were held in honour;

5. (obsolete) A practitioner, one who (publically) practises or teaches an art or skill.
   • 1592, Robert Green, The Thirde & Last Part of Conny-catching, Bodleian Library (Malone 575), London: John Lane. Reprinted in 1923, Harrison, G. B. (ed.), The Bodley Head Quartos III, Plainstow, Great Britain: Curwen Press, p. 29

     Two young men of familiar acquaintance [...] were one euening at a common Inne of this town (as I haue heard) where the one of them shewed his skill on the Virginals, to the no little contentement of the hearers. Nowe as diuers guests of the house came into the room to listen, so among the rest entered an artificiall Conny-catcher, who as occasion serued, in the time of ceissing betweene the seueral toyes and fancies hee plaid: very much commended his cunning, quicke hand, and such qualities praiseworthy in such a professour.

6. (US, slang) A pianist in a saloon, brothel, etc.
   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 415:

     You could hear [...] pianos under the hands of whorehouse professors sounding like they came with keys between the keys.

7. The puppeteer who performs a Punch and Judy show; a Punchman.

Derived terms

• absent-minded professor
• adjunct professor
• assistant professor
• associate professor
• distinguished professor
• extraordinary professor
• full professor
• institute professor
• James B. Duke professor
• little professor
• mad professor
• president's professor
• professorial
• professoriate
• professorly
• professor ordinarius
• Professor's Cube
• professorship
• regents' professor
• regents professor
• Regius professor
• regius professor
• research professor
• Sterling professor
• university professor
• visiting professor

 

Descendants

• → Chickasaw: pofessa'
• → Fijian: parofesa
• → Hawaiian: polopeka
• → Hindi: प्रोफ़ेसर (profesar)
• → Malay: profesor
• → Niuean: palōfesa
• → Samoan: polofesa
• → Swahili: profesa
• → Tok Pisin: profesa
• → Tongan: palofesa
• → Urdu: پروفیسر (profesar)

Translations

higher ranking for a teacher or faculty member at a college or university

• Afrikaans: professor (af)
• Amharic: ፕሮፌሰር (pərofesär)
• Arabic: أُسْتَاذ (ar) m (ʔustāḏ), مُعَلِّم (ar) m (muʕallim) (teacher)

  Egyptian Arabic: بروفيسور m (brofesōr), بروفيسورة f (brofesōra), دكتور m (duktor), دكتورة f (duktora)

• Armenian: պրոֆեսոր (hy) (profesor)
• Asturian: profesor (ast) m, profesora (ast) f
• Aymara: yatichiri
• Azerbaijani: professor (az)
• Basque: irakasle (eu)
• Belarusian: прафе́сар m (prafjésar)
• Breton: kelenner (br) m, kelennerez (br) f
• Bulgarian: профе́сор m (profésor)
• Burmese: ပါမောက္ခ (my) (pamaukhka.)
• Catalan: professor (ca) m, professora (ca) f
• Chickasaw: pofessa'
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 教授 (zh) (jiàoshòu), 老師／老师 (zh) (lǎoshī) (teacher)

• Czech: profesor (cs) m
• Danish: professor c
• Dutch: hoogleraar (nl) m, professor (nl) m or f, prof (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: profesoro, profesorino (female)
• Fijian: parofesa
• Finnish: professori (fi)
• French: professeur (fr) m, professeure (fr) f, professeuse (fr) f, prof (fr) m or f
• Galician: profesor (gl) m, profesora f
• Georgian: პროფესორი (ṗropesori)
• German: Professor (de) m, Professorin (de) f, Professorsgattin f (professor's wife), Prof. (de) m or f (abbrev.), Prof (de) m or f (colloquial short form), Hochschulprofessor (de) m, Hochschulprofessorin (de) f, Hochschullehrer (de) m, Hochschullehrerin (de) f
• Greek: καθηγητής (el) m (kathigitís), καθηγήτρια (el) f (kathigítria)
• Hawaiian: polopeka
• Hebrew: פְּרוֹפֶסוֹר (he) m (profésor), פְּרוֹפֶסוֹרִית f (profesorít), פרופ׳ (prof.) (abbrev.)
• Hindi: प्रोफ़ेसर m (profesar), प्राध्यापक (hi) m (prādhyāpak)
• Hungarian: professzor (hu)
• Icelandic: prófessor m, háskólakennari m
• Interlingua: professor
• Irish: ollamh m
• Italian: professore (it) m
• Japanese: 教授 (ja) (きょうじゅ, kyōju), 先生 (ja) (せんせい, sensei) (teacher)
• Javanese: guru ageng, profesor
• Khmer: សាស្ត្រចារ្យ (saahstraacaa), លោកគ្រូ (look kruu)
• Korean: 교수(敎授) (ko) (gyosu), 선생(先生) (ko) (seonsaeng) (teacher)
• Lao: ສາດສະດາຈານ (lo) (sāt sa dā chān), ອາຈານ (ʼā chān)
• Latin: professor m, profestrīx f
• Latvian: profesors m
• Lithuanian: profesorius m
• Low German:

  German Low German: Professer m, Professerin f, Professersch f, Professersche f, Professorin (nds) f, Professoorsch f, Professoorsche f

• Macedonian: професор m (profesor), професорка f (profesorka)
• Malay: mahaguru
• Maltese: professur m
• Maori: ahorangi, toihuarewa
• Marathi: प्रोफेसर m (prophesar)
• Occitan: professor (oc) m, professora (oc) f
• Pashto: پوهاند (ps) m (pohānd)
• Persian: استاد (fa) (ostâd), پروفسور (fa) (profesor)
• Polish: profesor (pl) m, profesorka (pl) f
• Portuguese: professor (pt) m, professora (pt) f
• Romanian: profesor (ro) m, profesoară (ro) f
• Russian: профе́ссор (ru) m (proféssor) (male, female), профе́ссорша (ru) f (proféssorša) (colloquial, nonstandard)
• Samoan: polofesa
• Scottish Gaelic: àrd-ollamh m (head of department)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: про̀фесор m, професо̀рица f

  Roman: pròfesor (sh) m, profesòrica (sh) f

• Sicilian: prufissuri (scn) m
• Slovak: profesor m
• Slovene: profesor (sl) m, profesorica f
• Somali: barfasoor
• Spanish: profesor (es) m, profesora (es) f
• Sundanese: profesor
• Swahili: profesa
• Swedish: lärare (sv) c, lärarinna (sv) c (female), lektor (sv) c, adjunkt (sv) c, föreläsare (sv) c, professor (sv) c, professorska (sv) c (professor's wife)
• Tagalog: propesor, dalubguro, Dgro.
• Tajik: олим (olim)
• Thai: ศาสตราจารย์ (th) (sàat-dtraa-jaan)
• Tongan: palofesa, palōfesa
• Turkish: profesör (tr), hoca (tr)
• Ukrainian: профе́сор (uk) m (profésor)
• Urdu: پروفیسر m (profesar), پرادھیاپک m (prādhyāpak)
• Uyghur: پروفېسسور (profëssor)
• Venetan: profesor (vec) m
• Vietnamese: giáo sư (vi) (教師)
• Volapük: profäsoran (vo), hiprofäsoran (male), jiprofäsoran (female)
• Welsh: proffeswr m
• Yakut: бэрэпиэссэр (berepiesser)
• Yiddish: פּראָפֿעסאָר m (profesor), פּראָפֿעסאָרין f (profesorin), פּראָפֿעסאָרקע f (profesorke), פּראָפֿ׳ m or f (prof') (abbrev.)

teacher or faculty member at a college or university, regardless of formal rank

• Afrikaans: dosent
• Bulgarian: преподавател (bg) m (prepodavatel)
• Hungarian: kinevezett tanár, előadó (hu), oktató (hu)

one who professes (a faith or religion)

• Bulgarian: изповядващ (bg) m (izpovjadvašt)
• German: Bekenner (de) m, Bekennerin f
• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} hitvalló (hu)

Azerbaijani

Other scripts

Cyrillic		профессор
Abjad		پروفئسسور

Etymology

Internationalism; ultimately from Latin professor (“declarer, person who claims knowledge”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

professor (definite accusative professoru, plural professorlar)

1. professor

Declension

Declension of professor
	singular	plural
nominative	professor	professorlar
definite accusative	professoru	professorları
dative	professora	professorlara
locative	professorda	professorlarda
ablative	professordan	professorlardan
definite genitive	professorun	professorların

Possessive forms of professor
	nominative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	professorum	professorlarım
sənin (“your”)	professorun	professorların
onun (“his/her/its”)	professoru	professorları
bizim (“our”)	professorumuz	professorlarımız
sizin (“your”)	professorunuz	professorlarınız
onların (“their”)	professoru or professorları	professorları
	accusative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	professorumu	professorlarımı
sənin (“your”)	professorunu	professorlarını
onun (“his/her/its”)	professorunu	professorlarını
bizim (“our”)	professorumuzu	professorlarımızı
sizin (“your”)	professorunuzu	professorlarınızı
onların (“their”)	professorunu or professorlarını	professorlarını
	dative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	professoruma	professorlarıma
sənin (“your”)	professoruna	professorlarına
onun (“his/her/its”)	professoruna	professorlarına
bizim (“our”)	professorumuza	professorlarımıza
sizin (“your”)	professorunuza	professorlarınıza
onların (“their”)	professoruna or professorlarına	professorlarına
	locative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	professorumda	professorlarımda
sənin (“your”)	professorunda	professorlarında
onun (“his/her/its”)	professorunda	professorlarında
bizim (“our”)	professorumuzda	professorlarımızda
sizin (“your”)	professorunuzda	professorlarınızda
onların (“their”)	professorunda or professorlarında	professorlarında
	ablative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	professorumdan	professorlarımdan
sənin (“your”)	professorundan	professorlarından
onun (“his/her/its”)	professorundan	professorlarından
bizim (“our”)	professorumuzdan	professorlarımızdan
sizin (“your”)	professorunuzdan	professorlarınızdan
onların (“their”)	professorundan or professorlarından	professorlarından
	genitive
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	professorumun	professorlarımın
sənin (“your”)	professorunun	professorlarının
onun (“his/her/its”)	professorunun	professorlarının
bizim (“our”)	professorumuzun	professorlarımızın
sizin (“your”)	professorunuzun	professorlarınızın
onların (“their”)	professorunun or professorlarının	professorlarının

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin professōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [pɾu.fəˈso]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [pɾo.fəˈso]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [pɾo.feˈsoɾ]

Noun

professor m (plural professors, feminine professora)

1. professor
2. teacher

   Synonyms: mestre, ensenyant

3. (music) musician (in an orchestra)

Derived terms

• professorat

Related terms

• professar
• professió

Further reading

• “professor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “professor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “professor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “professor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish

Noun

professor c (singular definite professoren, plural indefinite professorer)

1. professor

Declension

Declension of professor

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	professor	professoren	professorer	professorerne
genitive	professors	professorens	professorers	professorernes

Descendants

• → Icelandic: prófessor

Further reading

• “professor” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Dutch professoor, from Latin professor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌproːˈfɛ.sɔr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pro‧fes‧sor

Noun

professor m (plural professoren or professors, diminutive professortje n)

1. professor

   Dr. Van Der Meulen is een gerespecteerde professor aan de Universiteit van Utrecht. ― Dr. Van Der Meulen is a respected professor at Utrecht University.

   De professor heeft zijn nieuwste onderzoek gepubliceerd in een internationaal tijdschrift. ― The professor published his latest research in an international journal.

   De professor is gespecialiseerd in moleculaire biologie. ― The professor specializes in molecular biology.

Synonyms

• hoogleraar

Derived terms

• professoraal
• professoraat
• professorschap

 

Descendants

• → Indonesian: profesor
• → Javanese: profesor

Latin

Etymology

From professus, from profiteor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /proˈfes.sor/, [prɔˈfɛs̠ːɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /proˈfes.sor/, [proˈfɛsːor]

Noun

professor m (genitive professōris, feminine profestrīx); third declension

1. teacher, professor

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	professor	professōrēs
genitive	professōris	professōrum
dative	professōrī	professōribus
accusative	professōrem	professōrēs
ablative	professōre	professōribus
vocative	professor	professōrēs

Descendants

• Asturian: profesor
• Catalan: professor
• Dalmatian: professáur
• French: professeur
  • → Turkish: profesör
• Italian: professore
• Occitan: professor
• Romanian: profesor
• Sicilian: prufissuri
• Spanish: profesor
  • → Bikol Central: propesor
  • → Tagalog: propesor
• Venetan: profesor
• → Azerbaijani: professor
• → Belarusian: прафе́сар (prafjésar)
• → Bulgarian: профе́сор (profésor)
• → Czech: profesor
• → Danish: professor
  • → Icelandic: prófessor
• → Dutch: professor
• → Egyptian Arabic: بروفيسور (brūfisūr)
• → English: professor, professour (archaic)
  • → Chickasaw: pofessa'
  • → Fijian: parofesa
  • → Hawaiian: polopeka
  • → Hindi: प्रोफ़ेसर (profesar)
  • → Malay: profesor
  • → Niuean: palōfesa
  • → Samoan: polofesa
  • → Swahili: profesa
  • → Tok Pisin: profesa
  • → Tongan: palofesa
  • → Urdu: پروفیسر (profesar)
• → Esperanto: profesoro
• → Finnish: professori
• → Georgian: პროფესორი (ṗropesori)
• → German: Professor
• → Hebrew: פְּרוֹפֶסוֹר (profésor)
• → Hungarian: professzor
• → Indonesian: profesor
• → Javanese: profesor
• → Latgalian: profesors
• → Latvian: profesors
• → Lithuanian: profesorius
• → Macedonian: про́фесор (prófesor)
• → Maltese: professur
• → Old Galician-Portuguese: professor
  • Fala: profesol
  • Galician: profesor
  • Portuguese: professor
• → Persian: پروفسور (profesor)
• → Polish: profesor
  • → Kashubian: profesór
• → Russian: профе́ссор (proféssor), профе́ссоръ (proféssor) — Pre-reform orthography (1918)
  • → Armenian: պրոֆեսոր (profesor)
  • → Kazakh: профессор (professor)
  • → Uyghur: پروفېسسور (profëssor)
  • → Uzbek: professor
  • → Yakut: бэрэпиэссэр (berepiesser)
• → Serbo-Croatian:
  • Cyrillic script: про̀фесор
  • Latin script: pròfesor
• → Slovak: profesor
• → Slovene: profesor
• → Sundanese: profesor
• → Swedish: professor, professur
• → Ukrainian: профе́сор (profésor)
• → Vilamovian: profesor
• → Yiddish: פּראָפֿעסאָר (profesor)

References

• “professor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• professor in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Derived from Latin professor.

Noun

professor m (definite singular professoren, indefinite plural professorer, definite plural professorene)

1. professor (the highest academic rank at a university)

Derived terms

• forskningsprofessor
• professorat

 

References

• “professor” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
• “professor” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Derived from Latin professor.

Noun

professor m (definite singular professoren, indefinite plural professorar, definite plural professorane)

1. professor (the highest academic rank at a university)

Related terms

• professorat

References

• “professor” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Occitan

Etymology

Derived from Latin professor.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

professor m (plural professors, feminine professora, feminine plural professoras)

1. teacher (a person who teaches professionally)

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin professor.

Noun

professor m (plural *professores)

1. (hapax) teacher; professor
   • 1454, Michael de Villaboa, [Galicia Histórica]; republished as chapter 107, in Antonio López Ferreiro, editor, Galicia Histórica. Colección diplomática, Santiago: Tipografía Galaica, 1901–1903, page 469:

     (please add the primary text of this quotation)

     [Item que valla a clausula de payo que mandey screbir ao prior y maestro micael de villaboa payo romeu alfonsus frauli Rui de Santoeo e professor e prior fr.]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• Fala: profesol
• Galician: profesor
• Portuguese: professor

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “professor”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “professor”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *per-

Proto-Indo-European *pró

Proto-Indo-European *pro-

Proto-Italic *pro-

Latin pro-

Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-der.

Proto-Italic *fatēōr

Latin fateor

Latin profiteor

Latin professus

Proto-Indo-European *-tōrder.

Latin -tor

Latin professorlbor.

Old Galician-Portuguese professor

Portuguese professor

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese professor, borrowed from Latin professor.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pɾo.feˈsoʁ/ [pɾo.feˈsoh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pɾo.feˈsoʁ/ [pɾo.feˈsoh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /pɾo.feˈsoɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /pɾo.feˈsoʁ/ [pɾo.feˈsoχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /pɾo.feˈsoɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɾu.fɨˈsoɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɾu.fɨˈsoɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɾu.fɨˈso.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: pro‧fes‧sor

Noun

professor m (plural professores, feminine professora, feminine plural professoras)

1. teacher (a person who teaches professionally)

   Synonyms: docente (chiefly in academic contexts), mestre (dated), educador (has an affectionate or poetic undertone)

   • 2006, Sergio Lorenzato, Para aprender matematica, Autores Associados, →ISBN, page 19:

     O professor propõe a adição 8+5 e alguns alunos não conseguem efetuá-la; contudo, se ela for representada como 8 laranjas mais 15 laranjas, eles a executam com êxito.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (Brazil, soccer, slang) coach

   Synonym: treinador

Derived terms

• professorado
• professorar
• professorinho (diminutive, dated)
• professorzão (augmentative)
• professorzinho (diminutive)

 

Related terms

• professo
• professar

Descendants

• Kabuverdianu: profesor
• Macanese: (from professora) sora

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

professor c (feminine: professorska (dated))

1. professor (the highest academic rank at a university);

Declension

Declension of professor

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	professor	professors
	definite	professorn	professorns
plural	indefinite	professorer	professorers
	definite	professorerna	professorernas

Derived terms

• adjungerad professor
• biträdande professor
• forskningsprofessor
• gästprofessor
• hedersprofessor
• profession
• professor emeritus
• professorstjänst
• professur

 

See also

• adjunkt
• högskoleadjunkt
• högskolelektor
• lektor

 

Uzbek

Other scripts
Yangi Imlo
Cyrillic	профессор‍
Latin	professor‍
Perso-Arabic (Afghanistan)

Noun

professor (plural professorlar)

1. professor