descriptor

Learned borrowing from Late Latin dēscrīptōris. Compare describe.

• enPR: dĭ-skrĭp′tər
• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /dɪˈskɹɪp.tə/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /dɪˈskɹɪp.təɹ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /dəˈskɹəp.tə/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /dɪˈskɹɪp.təɾ/, /dɪˈskɹɪp.tʌɾ/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ɖɪˈskɾɪp.ʈɜː(ɾ)/, /ɖɪˈskɾɪp.ʈəɾ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪptə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: de‧scrip‧tor

descriptor (plural descriptors)

1. That which describes; a word, phrase, etc. serving as a description.
   1. (computing, information science) A name associated with certain data or documents in an information storage and retrieval system; an index term.

      Synonym: index term

   2. (linguistics) A word or expression used to describe or identify something.

• identifier

• “descriptor”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• discerptor, predictors

Learned borrowing from Latin dēscrīptōris.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [dəs.kɾipˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [des.kɾipˈtoɾ]
• Rhymes: -o(ɾ)
• Hyphenation: des‧crip‧tor

descriptor (feminine descriptora, masculine plural descriptors, feminine plural descriptores)

1. descriptive

descriptor m (plural descriptors)

1. (information science, linguistics) descriptor (name associated with data or documents)

• descriure

• “descriptor”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “descriptor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “descriptor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “descriptor”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

From dēscrīptum + -tor.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [deːˈskriːp.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [deˈskrip.tor]
• Hyphenation: dē‧scrīp‧tor

dēscrīptor m (genitive dēscrīptōris, feminine dēscrīptrīx); third declension (Late Latin)

1. descriptor (that which describes)
   • 303 CE – 311 CE, Lactantius, Institutiones Divinae 5.9.19:

     mōrum vitiōrumque pūblicōrum et dēscrīptor vērissimus

     and a most faithful descriptor of public morals and vices

   • 380 CE – 392 CE, Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 23.6.1:

     dēscrīptōribus gentium

     for the descriptors of nations [i.e. the ethnographers]

Third-declension noun.

• “dēscriptor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• dēscrīptor in Georges, Karl Ernst; Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 1, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, column 2078
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “descriptor”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[1], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC
• “descriptor”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 505.

Borrowed from French descripteur.

• IPA^(key): /des.kripˈtor/

• Rhymes: -or
• Hyphenation: des‧crip‧tor

descriptor m (plural descriptori)

1. (rare) descriptor (that which describes)

• “descriptor”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Learned borrowing from Latin dēscrīptōris.

• IPA^(key): /deskɾibˈtoɾ/ [d̪es.kɾiβ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: des‧crip‧tor

descriptor m (plural descriptores)

1. descriptor (that which describes)

• “descriptor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025