custodian

English

Etymology

From a shortening of Latin custōdiānātus, from Latin custōdia (“a keeping, watch, guard, prison”), from custōs (“a keeper, watchman, guard”). By surface analysis, custody +‎ -ian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈstoʊdiən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊdiən

Noun

custodian (plural custodians)

1. A person entrusted with the custody or care of something or someone; a caretaker or keeper.

   After their parents' death, their aunt became the children's custodian.

   The building's custodian could fix nearly anything. The place always looked great!

   • 1947, David Saavedra, Go South Young Man, page 80:

     The middle class is the. demitone of human society, custodian of the balance, and no fair social order could exist without the cooperation of this class.

   • 2021 April 21, Cara Giaimo, “One of the World’s Oldest Science Experiments Comes Up From the Dirt”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 27 April 2021:

     Dr. Weber and her colleagues are the latest custodians of the Beal seed viability experiment: a multicentury attempt to figure out how long seeds can lie dormant in the soil without losing their ability to germinate.

2. An administrator.
3. A gaolkeeper.
4. A protector or guard.
5. (US, Canada) A janitor; a cleaner.

Derived terms

• cryptocustodian
• custodianship

Related terms

• custodial
• custody

Translations

a person entrusted with the custody or care

• Azerbaijani: qəyyum
• Bulgarian: попечи́тел (bg) m (popečítel), попечи́телка f (popečítelka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 監護人 / 监护人 (zh) (jiānhùrén)

• Czech: opatrovník (cs) m, poručník (cs) m, správce (cs) m, hlídač (cs) m, dozorce (cs) m
• Danish: formynder c (archaic), værge c
• Dutch: bewaarder (nl) m, voogd (nl) m, beheerder (nl) m
• Finnish: huoltaja (fi)
• French: gardien (fr) m, gardienne (fr) f
• German: Hüter (de) m, Hüterin (de) f, Kustos (de) m, Schützer (de) m, Schützerin (de) f, Vormund (de) m, Hausverwalter (de) m, Hausverwalterin (de) f, Hausmeister (de) m
• Hindi: अभिरक्षक m (abhirakṣak)
• Indonesian: wali (id)
• Italian: custode (it)
• Japanese: 保管人 (ほかんにん, hokannin)
• Korean: 보관인(保管人) (bogwanin)
• Latin: curator (la) m, curatrix f
• Macedonian: ста́рател m (stáratel), стара́телка f (starátelka), на́стојник m (nástojnik), насто́јница f (nastójnica)
• Portuguese: guardião (pt) m (of a person), zelador (pt) m (of a place)
• Romanian: custode (ro) m
• Russian: опеку́н (ru) m (opekún), попечи́тель (ru) m (popečítelʹ), попечи́тельница (ru) f (popečítelʹnica)
• Spanish: custodio (es) m, custodia (es) f, depositario (es) m, depositaria f
• Swedish: förmyndare (sv) c
• Tagalog: taga-ingat
• Thai: ผู้ปกครอง (th) (pûu-bpòk-krɔɔng)
• Turkish: bekçi (tr), koruyan (law), nazır (tr) (law), vasi (tr) (law), yönetici (tr)

(US) a janitor

• Bulgarian: паза́ч (bg) m (pazáč)
• Czech: správce (cs) m, údržbář (cs) m
• Dutch: conciërge (nl)
• German: Hausmeister (de) m, Hausmeisterin (de) f
• Indonesian: marbot
• Slovak: domovník (sk) m, domovníčka f, domáci (sk) m, domáca f
• Spanish: bedel (es) m
• Turkish: kapıcı (tr)

Further reading

• “custodian”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “custodian”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• “custodian”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Spanish

Verb

custodian

1. third-person plural present indicative of custodiar