actor

• acter (uncommon)
• actour (obsolete)

Inherited from Middle English actour, from Anglo-Norman actor, Middle French actor, and their source, Latin āctor (“doer”), from agō (“to do”). Equivalent to act +‎ -or. Cognate with Ancient Greek ἄκτωρ (áktōr, “leader”), from ἄγω (ágō, “lead, carry, convey, bring”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈak.tə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈæk.tɚ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (UK):

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• Homophone: acter
• Rhymes: -æktə(ɹ)

actor (plural actors)

1. (obsolete, law) Someone who institutes a legal suit; a plaintiff or complainant. [13th–19th c.]
2. (obsolete) Someone acting on behalf of someone else; a guardian. [14th–18th c.]
3. Someone or something that takes part in some action; a doer, an agent. [from 15th c.]
   • 1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the laws of England‎^[1]:

     A man may be principal in an offence in two degrees. A principal, in the first degree, is he that is the actor, or absolute perpetrator of the crime; and, in the second degree, he who is present, aiding, and abetting the fact to be done.

   • 1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 373:

     Never, my dear Bethel, did the most feverish dreams of fiction produce scenes more painful, or more terrific, than the real events to which I have been an actor, since the date of my last letter.

   • 1852 February 8, “Reminiscences”, in The Daily Union (Washington)‎^[2], page 2:

     Mr. Clay had been too prominent an actor in public affairs to allow whig deception and misrepresentation a fair opportunity for successful action.

4. A person who acts a part in a theatrical play or (later) in film or television; a dramatic performer. [from 16th c.]
   • 1991, Ani DiFranco, “Anticipate”, in Not So Soft:

     Seems like everyone's an actor / Or they're an actor's best friend / I wonder what was wrong to begin with / That they should all have to pretend

   • 2017 April 2, “Marijuana”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 7, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:

     Exactly. Marijuana is something we just all gradually decided is okay, like Mark Wahlberg as a serious actor. “You know what? Sure, I’ve decided I’m fine with that.”

   • 2010, Peter Corris, Torn Apart, Allen and Unwin, page 88:

     "I'm an actress -- actor, as we have to say these days."

5. (obsolete, Ancient Rome) An advocate or proctor in civil courts or causes. [16th–19th c.]
6. (grammar) The subject performing the action of a verb. [from 18th c.]
7. (software engineering) The entity that performs a role (in use case analysis).

• In the sense of a person who acts in a play or film, the traditional sense of the word only applied to male actors, the term actress being used for the female counterpart.

• (person who performs in a theatrical play or film): performer, player
• (one who acts): doer
• (one who takes part): participant
• (a plaintiff): complainant, plaintiff
• (entity performing a role in use case analysis): role

• (antonym(s) of “grammatical role”): undergoer

• (person who performs in a theatrical play or film): actress
• enactor
• reenactor

• → Scottish Gaelic: actair
• → Welsh: actor

• “actor”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “actor”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “actor”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Cator, Croat, Croat., carto-, rocta, taroc

Borrowed from Latin āctor.

actor m (plural actores)

1. actor

• actriz

Borrowed from Latin āctōrem.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [əkˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [akˈtoɾ]

• Audio (Barcelona):

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actor m (plural actors, feminine actora, feminine plural actores)

1. (sociology) actor, agent (person who does an action)
2. maker, author (e.g., of a law)
3. (law) plaintiff
4. (law) legal entity who is party to a contract

actor m (plural actors, feminine actriu, feminine plural actrius)

1. (theater, film) actor

• actuar

• “actor”, 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

Borrowed from Latin āctor. Doublet of acteur.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑk.tɔr/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: ac‧tor
• Rhymes: -ɑktɔr

actor m (plural actores or actoren, diminutive actortje n)

1. actor; agent, player (who has a part in some field of economical, social or other action, i.e., an active human factor)

• ator (reintegrationist)

• IPA^(key): /atˈtoɾ/ [at̪ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Hyphenation: at‧tor

actor m (plural actores, feminine actriz, feminine plural actrices)

1. actor

   A acción revela o actor.

   The act reveals the actor

• “actor”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “actor”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Agent noun formed from āctus +‎ -tor, perfect passive participle of agō (“do, act, make”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈaːk.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈak.tor]

āctor m (genitive āctōris, feminine āctrīx); third declension

1. doer, agent
2. actor (person who performs in a theatrical play or movie)
3. (law) prosecutor, plaintiff, advocate, orator

Third-declension noun.

• “actor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “actor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "actor", 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)
• “actor”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[3], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the actor who plays the leading part: actor primarum (secundarum, tertiarum) partium
    
• “actor”, in The Perseus Project (1999), Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[4]
• “actor”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “actor”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “actor”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

actor

1. alternative form of actour

Borrowed from Latin āctor.

• IPA^(key): /atˈtu/

• Audio (Béarn):

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actor m (plural actors, feminine actritz, feminine plural actrises)

1. actor

actor m (plural actores)

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

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

• aftor — dated

Borrowed from French acteur, Latin āctor.

• IPA^(key): /akˈtor/

• Audio:

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actor m (plural actori, feminine equivalent actriță or actoriță)

1. (acting) actor

   Synonyms: artist, interpret

• teatralist

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

Borrowed from English actor.

• IPA^(key): /ˈaktər/

actor (plural actors)

1. actor

Borrowed from Latin āctor.

• IPA^(key): /aɡˈtoɾ/ [aɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

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• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: ac‧tor

actor m (plural actores, feminine actriz, feminine plural actrices)

1. actor (person who performs in a theatrical play or movie)

actor m (plural actores, feminine actora, feminine plural actoras)

1. (law) defendant

• “actor”, 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

• corta
• tocar

Borrowed from English actor.

• IPA^(key): /ˈaktɔr/
• Rhymes: -aktɔr

actor m (plural actorion)

1. (acting) actor

• (gender): actores (“actress, actor (female)”)

• actio (“to act”)

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “actor”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies