commander

See also: Commander

English

Etymology

From Middle English commaunder, comaunder, borrowed from Old French cumandeur, comandëor, from comander. See command.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kəˈmændɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəˈmɑːndə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

commander (plural commanders)

1. One who exercises control and direction of a military or naval organization.
2. A naval officer whose rank is above that of a lieutenant commander and below that of captain.
3. One who exercises control and direction over a group of persons.
4. A designation or rank in certain non-military organizations such as NASA and various police forces.
5. (obsolete) The chief officer of a commandry.
6. A heavy beetle or wooden mallet, used in paving, in sail lofts, etc.
7. A rank within an honorary order: e.g. Commander of the Legion of Honour.

Derived terms

• commanderless
• commanderlike
• commanderly

Translations

One who exercises control and direction of a military or naval organization

• Arabic: آمِر‎‎ m (ʾāmir), أُمَرَاء‎‎ pl (ʾumarāʾ) (plural of آمر)
• Armenian: հրամանատար (hy) (hramanatar)
• Bulgarian: командир (bg) m (komandir)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 司令 (zh) (sīlìng), 司令官 (zh) (sīlìngguān), 指揮官 (zh), 指挥官 (zh) (zhǐhuīguān)

• Czech: velitel (cs) m
• Dutch: commandant (nl) m
• Estonian: ülem
• Finnish: komentaja (fi)
• French: commandant (fr) m, commandante (fr) f
• Georgian: ზორვარი (zorvari)
• German: Befehlshaber (de) m, Kommandant (de) m, Kommandeur (de) m, Kommandör m
• Hebrew: מפקד‎‎ (he) m (mefaqed), מפקדת‎‎ f (mefaqedet)

• Indonesian: panglima (id)
• Japanese: 司令 (ja) (しれい, shirei)
• Malay: komander
• Maori: toihau, kaiwhakahau
• Navajo: hashkééjí naatʼááh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kommandant m

  Nynorsk: kommandant m

• Portuguese: comandante (pt) m, f
• Russian: команди́р (ru) m (komandír)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceannard m
• Serbo-Croatian: заповедник m, zapovednik (sh) m
• Spanish: comandante (es) m
• Swahili: kamanda (sw)
• Swedish: befälhavare (sv) c

A naval officer whose rank is above that of a lieutenant commander and below that of captain

• Bulgarian: капитан трети ранг (kapitan treti rang)
• Czech: fregatní kapitán m, komandér m
• Finnish: komentaja (fi)
• Greek: αντιπλοίαρχος (el) (antiploíarchos)

• Indonesian: mayor (id)
• Russian: коммандер (ru) m (kommander)
• Serbo-Croatian: komandant (sh)
• Slovene: komandant

One who exercises control and direction over a group of persons

• Bulgarian: началник (bg) m (načalnik)
• Czech: velitel (cs) m
• Dutch: aanvoerder (nl), gezagvoerder (nl)
• Estonian: ülem
• Finnish: johtaja (fi), päällikkö (fi)
• Indonesian: komandan (id)

• Latin: praepositus
• Maori: toihau
• Portuguese: comandante (pt) m, f
• Russian: команди́р (ru) m (komandír)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceannard m
• Spanish: comandante (es) m

Commander in an honorary order

• French: commandeur (fr) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kommandør m

  Nynorsk: kommandør m

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French

Etymology

From Old French comander, from Vulgar Latin *commandāre, from Latin commendāre, present active infinitive of commendō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.mɑ̃.de/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

commander

1. to order (tell someone to do something)
2. to order (ask for a product)

Conjugation

  Conjugation of commander (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		commander			avoir commandé
gerund		en commandant			en ayant commandé
present participle		commandant /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɑ̃/
past participle		commandé /kɔ.mɑ̃.de/
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
simple tenses	present	commande /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	commandes /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	commande /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	commandons /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɔ̃/	commandez /kɔ.mɑ̃.de/	commandent /kɔ.mɑ̃d/
	imperfect	commandais /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɛ/	commandais /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɛ/	commandait /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɛ/	commandions /kɔ.mɑ̃.djɔ̃/	commandiez /kɔ.mɑ̃.dje/	commandaient /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɛ/
	past historic1	commandai /kɔ.mɑ̃.de/	commandas /kɔ.mɑ̃.da/	commanda /kɔ.mɑ̃.da/	commandâmes /kɔ.mɑ̃.dam/	commandâtes /kɔ.mɑ̃.dat/	commandèrent /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɛʁ/
	future	commanderai /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁe/	commanderas /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁa/	commandera /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁa/	commanderons /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁɔ̃/	commanderez /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁe/	commanderont /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	commanderais /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁɛ/	commanderais /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁɛ/	commanderait /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁɛ/	commanderions /kɔ.mɑ̃.də.ʁjɔ̃/	commanderiez /kɔ.mɑ̃.də.ʁje/	commanderaient /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁɛ/
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior1	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il	que nous	que vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	commande /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	commandes /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	commande /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	commandions /kɔ.mɑ̃.djɔ̃/	commandiez /kɔ.mɑ̃.dje/	commandent /kɔ.mɑ̃d/
	imperfect1	commandasse /kɔ.mɑ̃.das/	commandasses /kɔ.mɑ̃.das/	commandât /kɔ.mɑ̃.da/	commandassions /kɔ.mɑ̃.da.sjɔ̃/	commandassiez /kɔ.mɑ̃.da.sje/	commandassent /kɔ.mɑ̃.das/
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive tense of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	commande /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	—	commandons /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɔ̃/	commandez /kɔ.mɑ̃.de/	—
1literary tenses

Derived terms

• commandeur
• commandement

Related terms

• commande

Further reading

• “commander” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).