custodian

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin *custōdiānus (“the office of a custōdia”), implied in custōdiānātus, from Latin custōdia (“a keeping, watch, guard, prison”), from custōs (“a keeper, watchman, guard”).

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!

2. (US, Canada) A janitor; a cleaner.

Derived terms

• 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)

• Danish: formynder c (archaic), værge (da) c
• Dutch: bewaarder (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
• 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 m, depositaria f
• Swedish: förmyndare (sv) c
• Tagalog: taga-ingat
• Turkish: bekçi (tr), koruyan (law), nazır (tr) (law), vasi (tr) (law), yönetici (tr)

(US) a janitor

• Bulgarian: паза́ч (bg) m (pazáč)
• German: Hausmeister (de) m, Hausmeisterin (de) f
• Indonesian: marbot
• Slovak: domovník m, domovníčka f, domáci (sk) m, domáca f
• Turkish: kapıcı (tr)

Further reading

• “custodian”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “custodian”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “custodian”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Spanish

Verb

custodian

1. third-person plural present indicative of custodiar