comptroller
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From late Middle English compteroller, a spelling variant of countreroller (from which controller) due to folk etymology: the word was thought to have an etymological connection with Middle French compte (“account”) (Middle French compteroleur is attested circa 1375). Originally the two spellings were equivalent and pronounced identically; the modern pronunciation with [mp] is based on the spelling.
Pronunciation[edit]
- either as controller or as IPA(key): [kəmpˈtɹoʊləɹ], [kəmˈtɹoʊləɹ]
- Homophone: controller
- Rhymes: -əʊlə(ɹ)
Noun[edit]
comptroller (plural comptrollers)
- The chief accountant of a company or government.
- 1660 February 11 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “February 1st, 1659–1660”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume I, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC, page 339:
- So the Comptroller and I thence to a tavern hard by, and there did agree upon drawing up some letters to be sent to all the pursers and Clerks of the Cheques to make up their accounts.
- 1988, Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 237:
- The terms of the licence shall, in default of agreement, be settled by the comptroller.
Synonyms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
the chief accountant of a company or government — see controller