inspector

• inspectour (obsolete, rare)

Borrowed from Latin īnspector, from īnspiciō, equivalent to inspect +‎ -or.

• (non-rhotic)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈspɛk.təː/, [ɪnˈspɛk.tʰəː]
• (rhotic)
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈspɛk.tɚ/, [ɪnˈspɛk.tʰɚ] ~ [ɪnˈspɛk.tʰɹ̩]

    • Audio (US):

      (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧spec‧tor

inspector (plural inspectors)

1. A person employed to inspect something.
   • 2013 July 1, Peter Wilby, quoting Pasi Sahlberg, “Finland's education ambassador spreads the word”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], volume 189, number 6, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 June 2018, page 30:

     Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. […]. There are no inspectors, no exams until the age of 18, no school league tables, no private tuition industry, no school uniforms. […].

   • 2025 February 11, Jennifer Hansler, “USAID IG fired day after report critical of impacts of Trump administration’s dismantling of the agency”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     Martin had served as inspector general since December 2023. While President Donald Trump fired inspectors general from more than a dozen federal agencies during his first week in office, the USAID watchdog had remained in place.

2. (law enforcement) A police officer ranking below superintendent.
3. (computing) A software tool used to examine something.
   • 2011, Adam McDaniel, HTML5‎^[3], →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 166:

     Google Chrome has a built-in development tool called the Chrome Inspector. You can use it to examine the HTML elements in a web page; review what resources — or files, cookies, and databases — are active; follow network activity; […].

   • 2020, Anatoly Belous, Vitali Saladukha, Viruses, Hardware and Software Trojans, page 112:

     After that, with the help of the disk inspector, you can at any time compare the status of programs and system disk areas with the original one.

• → Japanese: インスペクター (insupekutā)

• “inspector”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• inceptors, proincest

Borrowed from Latin īnspectōrem. First attested in 1803.^[1]

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [in.spəkˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [in.spekˈtoɾ]^[1][2]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Central, Balearic) -o, (Valencia) -oɾ
• Hyphenation: in‧spek‧tor

inspector m (plural inspectors, feminine inspectora, feminine plural inspectores)

1. inspector

• inspecció

• “inspector”, 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
• “inspector”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “inspector” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “inspector”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

From Latin īnspector.

• IPA^(key): /inspekˈtoɾ/ [in.s̺pekˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Hyphenation: in‧spec‧tor

inspector m (plural inspectores, feminine inspectora, feminine plural inspectoras)

1. inspector

• “inspector”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• “inspector”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ĩːˈspɛk.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [inˈspɛk.tor]
• Hyphenation: īn‧spec‧tor

From īnspiciō + -tor.

īnspector m (genitive īnspectōris, feminine īnspectrīx); third declension

1. (post-Augustan) viewer, observer, onlooker
2. (Late Latin, Medieval Latin) inspector, examiner (especially one who inspects a household, monastery, etc)
3. (Medieval Latin) spy
4. (Medieval Latin, in divination) diviner

Third-declension noun.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

īnspector

1. first-person singular present passive indicative of īnspectō

• “inspector”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "inspector", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “inspector”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• inspector in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[4], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

From Latin īnspector.

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

inspector m (plural inspectors, feminine inspectritz, feminine plural inspectrises)

1. inspector

• inspeccion

inspector (feminine inspectora, masculine plural inspectores, feminine plural inspectoras)

1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of inspetor; still used where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and may occur as a sporadic misspelling

inspector m (plural inspectores, feminine inspectora, feminine plural inspectoras)

1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of inspetor; still used where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and may occur as a sporadic misspelling

• “inspector”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from Latin inspector, probably through French inspecteur. Compare Russian инспе́ктор (inspéktor).

• IPA^(key): /inˈspek.tor/
• Rhymes: -ektor
• Hyphenation: in‧spek‧tor

inspector m (plural inspectori, feminine equivalent inspectoare)

1. inspector

   Synonym: (Transylvania) inspicient

• inspector-șef

• inspecta
• inspectare
• inspectiv
• inspectorat
• inspecție, inspecțiune

• revizor
• supraveghetor

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

Borrowed from Latin īnspector.

• IPA^(key): /inspeɡˈtoɾ/ [ĩn.speɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: in‧spec‧tor

inspector m (plural inspectores, feminine inspectora, feminine plural inspectoras)

1. inspector
   • 2025 June 28, Sean Lyngaas, “El cártel de Sinaloa rastreó con un hacker a un funcionario del FBI y mató a posibles informantes, según Gobierno de EE.UU.”, in CNN en Español‎^[5]:

     Un cártel de droga mexicano contrató a un hacker para vigilar los movimientos de un alto funcionario del FBI en Ciudad de México en 2018 o incluso antes, recopilando información del sistema de cámaras de la ciudad que permitió al cártel matar a posibles informantes del FBI, según dijo en un nuevo informe el inspector general del Departamento de Justicia.

     A Mexican drug cartel hired a hacker to monitor the movements of a high-ranking FBI official in Mexico City in 2018 or even earlier, gathering information from the city's camera system that allowed the cartel to kill potential FBI informants, according to a new report from the Department of Justice inspector general.

• “inspector”, 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