amador

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin amātōrem.

Adjective

amador (feminine amadora, masculine plural amadors, feminine plural amadores)

1. loving

Further reading

• “amador”, 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
• “amador”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “amador” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “amador” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃-der.?

Proto-Italic *amō

Latin amō

Proto-Indo-European *-tōr

Proto-Italic *-tōr

Latin -tor

Latin amātōrem

Old Galician-Portuguese amador

Inherited from Latin amātōrem. By surface analysis, amar +‎ -dor.

Adjective

amador (plural amadores, feminine amadora, feminine plural amadoras)

1. loving

Noun

amador m (plural amadores, feminine amadora, feminine plural amadoras)

1. lover

   Synonym: amigo

   • 1373 January 20, Fernán Martís, “Cõmo breçayda rreſpondeu a Diomedes [How Briseis answered Diomedes]” (chapter 201), in Cronica Troiana [Trojan Chronicle], Kingdom of Galicia, translation of Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte-Maure (in Old French), →OCLC, manuscript MSS/10233, page 83v:

     Et ja por eſta maneỹra moỹtas donas ⁊ donselas rreçeben grã dãno poꝛ en gano dos falſſos amador̃s ⁊ graue couſa he de cõnoſçer o leal amadoꝛ.

     And, this way, many ladies and damsels have been greatly damaged by deceit of false lovers, and a tough thing it is to meet the loyal lover.

2. friend

   Synonym: amigo

Descendants

• Galician: amador
• Portuguese: amador

References

• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “amador”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2020–2026), “amador”, in Vocabulário histórico-cronológico do português medieval [Historical and chronological vocabulary of Medieval Portuguese] (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa
• Ferreiro, Manuel (2014–2026), “amador¹”, in Universo Cantigas: edición crítica da poesía medieval galego-portuguesa [Universo Cantigas: critical edition of Galician-Portuguese medieval poetry] (in Galician), A Coruña: University of A Coruña, →ISSN
• Ferreiro, Manuel (2014–2026), “amador²”, in Universo Cantigas: edición crítica da poesía medieval galego-portuguesa [Universo Cantigas: critical edition of Galician-Portuguese medieval poetry] (in Galician), A Coruña: University of A Coruña, →ISSN
• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “amador”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Old Occitan

Etymology

From Latin amator, amatorem.

Noun

amador m (oblique plural amadors, nominative singular amadors, nominative plural amador)

1. lover (one who loves)

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃-der.?

Proto-Italic *amō

Latin amō

Proto-Indo-European *-tōr

Proto-Italic *-tōr

Latin -tor

Latin amātōrem

Old Galician-Portuguese amador

Portuguese amador

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese amador, from Latin amātōrem. By surface analysis, amar +‎ -dor.

Noun sense 1 is a semantic loan from French amateur.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /a.maˈdoʁ/ [a.maˈdoh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /a.maˈdoʁ/ [a.maˈdoh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /a.maˈdoɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /a.maˈdoʁ/ [a.maˈdoχ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /a.maˈdoɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɐ.mɐˈdoɾ/ [ɐ.mɐˈðoɾ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɐ.mɐˈdoɾ/ [ɐ.mɐˈðoɾ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɐ.mɐˈdo.ɾi/ [ɐ.mɐˈðo.ɾi]

• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Hyphenation: a‧ma‧dor

Noun

amador m (plural amadores, feminine amadora, feminine plural amadoras)

2. amateur (someone who is unqualified or insufficiently skillful)
3. (now rare) a lover of something

Derived terms

• amadorismo

Adjective

amador (feminine amadora, masculine plural amadores, feminine plural amadoras)

1. loving
2. voluntary
3. amateur

Further reading

• “amador”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “amador”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Latin amātōrem. By surface analysis, amar +‎ -dor. Doublet of amateur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /amaˈdoɾ/ [a.maˈð̞oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: a‧ma‧dor

Adjective

amador (feminine amadora, masculine plural amadores, feminine plural amadoras)

1. loving

   Synonym: amante

Noun

amador m (plural amadores, feminine amadora, feminine plural amadoras)

1. lover (one who loves)

Related terms

• amar

Further reading

• “amador”, 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