director

English

Alternative forms

• directour (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French directeur and its source Late Latin director, directorem, from Latin directus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈɹɛktə(ɹ)/, /daɪˈɹɛktə(ɹ)/, /daɪ̯əˈɹɛktə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɪˈɹɛktɚ/, /daɪˈɹɛktɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)

Noun

director (plural directors, feminine directress or directrix)

1. One who directs; the person in charge of managing a department or directorate (e.g., director of engineering), project, or production (as in a show or film, e.g., film director).
   • 2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America‎^[1], archived from the original on 7 February 2019:

     Francis Gurry is director of WIPO.

     Audio (US)

     (file)

2. A member of a board of directors.
   • [...] the confusion between directors who know nothing and managers who know everything [...].- Anthony Trollope: Phineas Redux (1873), Chapter 60 ("Two Days before the Trial")
3. A counselor, confessor, or spiritual guide.
4. That which directs or orientates something.
   • 1971, United States. Office of Saline Water, Distillation Digest, volume 3, page 76:

     Installed longer flow director; it now just covers the entire diameter of the 6-in. brine return nozzle, and is 4 in. high […]

5. (military) A device that displays graphical information concerning the targets of a weapons system in real time.
6. (chemistry) The common axis of symmetry of the molecules of a liquid crystal.

Derived terms

• art director
• co-director
• director-general
• director circle
• director conic
• director general
• director musices
• director of music
• director of photography
• flight director
• funeral director
• guinea pig director
• hand director
• managing director
• vice-director
• vice director

 

Translations

supervisor, manager — See also translations at film director

• Albanian: drejtor (sq) m, drejtore (sq) f, drejtoreshë (sq) f
• Arabic: مُدِير‎ m (mudīr), مُدِيرَة‎ f (mudīra); مُخْرِج‎ m (muḵrij) (film)
• Armenian: տնօրեն (hy) (tnōren)
• Azerbaijani: rejissor (film, theatre), direktor
• Belarusian: дырэ́ктар m (dyréktar), дырэ́ктарка f (dyréktarka), рэжысёр m (režysjór), рэжысёрка f (režysjórka) (film)
• Bulgarian: ръководи́тел (bg) m (rǎkovodítel), ръководи́телка f (rǎkovodítelka), дире́ктор (bg) m (diréktor), дире́кторка f (diréktorka), режисьо́р m (režisjór), режисьо́рка f (režisjórka) (film)
• Catalan: director (ca) m, directora (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 經理／经理 (zh) (jīnglǐ), (film) 導演／导演 (zh) (dǎoyǎn), 指揮／指挥 (zh) (zhǐhuī) (conductor), 指揮者／指挥者 (zh) (zhǐhuīzhě)

• Czech: ředitel (cs) m, ředitelka (cs) f, režisér (cs) m, režisérka (cs) f (film)
• Danish: direktør c, instruktør c (film)
• Dutch: directeur (nl) m or f, regisseur (nl) m
• Esperanto: direktoro, reĝisoro (eo)
• Estonian: direktor, režissöör (film)
• Finnish: johtaja (fi), (film director) ohjaaja (fi)
• French: directeur (fr) m, directrice (fr) f, régisseur (fr) m, régisseuse (fr) f (film)
• Galician: director m
• Georgian: დირექტორი (direkṭori), რეჟისორი (režisori)
• German: Direktor (de) m, Direktorin (de) f, Regisseur (de) m, Regisseurin (de) f (film)
• Greek: (film director) σκηνοθέτης (el) m (skinothétis), διευθυντής (el) m (diefthyntís)
• Greenlandic: pisortaq
• Guaraní: sãmbyhyhára
• Hausa: darekta (ha)
• Hebrew: מנהל‎ m (menahel), (manager) מנהלת‎ f (menahelet), במאי‎ (he) m (bamai), (in cinema or theater) במאית‎ f (bamayt)
• Hindi: निर्देशक (hi) m (nirdeśak)
• Hungarian: igazgató (hu), rendező (hu), rektor (hu)
• Icelandic: leikstjóri m
• Indonesian: sutradara (id) (film), direktur (id)
• Irish: stiúrthóir m
• Italian: direttore (it) m, direttorice (it) f, capo (it) m, regista (it) m or f (film)
• Japanese: 監督 (ja) (かんとく, kantoku), 指揮者 (ja) (しきしゃ, shikisha) (conductor)
• Kazakh: режиссёр (rejisser) (film), директор (direktor)
• Korean: 감독(監督) (ko) (gamdok) (film)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: کاربەدەست‎ (ckb) (karbedest)

• Kyrgyz: директор (ky) (direktor) (film), режиссёр (rejissyor) (film)
• Latvian: direktors m, direktore f, režisors m, režisore f (film)
• Lithuanian: direktorius m, direktorė f, režisierius m, režisierė f (film)
• Macedonian: директор m (direktor), режисер m (režiser) (film)
• Malay: pengarah, sutradara (in film making), direktur
• Maori: whakataka
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: захирал (mn) (zaxiral), найруулагч (mn) (najruulagč) (film)

  Mongolian: ᠵᠠᠬᠢᠷᠤᠯ (ǰaqirul), ᠨᠠᠶᠢᠷᠠᠭᠤᠯᠤᠭᠴᠢ (nayiraɣuluɣči) (film)

• Norman: directeu m (Jersey)
• Norwegian: direktør (no)

  Bokmål: (film, theatre) regissør m

  Nynorsk: (film, theatre) regissør m

• Persian: کارگردان‎ (fa) (kârgardân), مدیر‎ (fa) (modir)
• Polish: dyrektor (pl) m, dyrektorka (pl) f, reżyser (pl) m, reżyserka (pl) f (film)
• Portuguese: diretor (pt) m
• Romanian: director (ro) m, directoare (ro) f, regizor (ro) m (film)
• Russian: дире́ктор (ru) m (diréktor), режиссёр (ru) m (režissjór) (film), дирижёр (ru) m (dirižór) (conductor)
• Rusyn: режісер m (režiser)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: редитељ m, упра̀витељ m, ра̀внатељ m, рѐдатељ m, збороводја m (in a choir), режѝсе̄р m (film)

  Roman: reditelj (sh) m, upràvitelj (sh) m, ràvnatelj (sh) m, rèdatelj (sh) m, zborovodja m (in a choir), režìsēr (sh) m (film)

• Slovak: riaditeľ m, riaditeľka f, režisér m, režisérka f (film)
• Slovene: direktor m, direktorica f, režiser (sl) m, režiserka f (film)
• Spanish: director (es) m, directora (es) f
• Swahili: mkurugenzi (sw)
• Swedish: chef (sv) c, direktör (sv) c, regissör (sv) c (movie/theater/show)
• Tajik: директор (tg) (direktor), мудир (tg) (mudir)
• Tok Pisin: dairekta
• Turkish: yönetmen (tr), müdür (tr)
• Turkmen: direktor
• Ukrainian: дире́ктор m (dyréktor), дире́кторка f (dyréktorka), режисе́р m (režysér), режисе́рка f (režysérka) (film)
• Uyghur: دىرېكتور‎ (dirëktor), رېژىسسور‎ (rëzhissor) (film)
• Uzbek: direktor (uz), rejissyor (uz) (film)
• Vietnamese: giám đốc (vi) (監督)
• Volapük: dilekan (vo)
• Yakut: режиссёр (rezhissor)

device that displays graphical information concerning the targets of a weapons system

• Irish: diúracóir m

someone who directs

• Catalan: director (ca) m, directora (ca) f
• Maori: ringatohu
• Ojibwe: odaake-ogimaa
• Spanish: director (es)

Anagrams

• creditor

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin directorem, from Latin directus, attested from 1696.

Noun

director m (plural directors, feminine directora)

1. director
2. conductor
3. headteacher, principal

Related terms

• direcció
• dirigir
• directe

Further reading

• “director” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “director” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “director” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Portuguese

Adjective

director (feminine directora, masculine plural directores, feminine plural directoras)

1. Superseded spelling of diretor. (Superseded in Brazil by the 1943 spelling reform and by the Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement of 1990 elsewhere. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn’t come into effect.)

Noun

director m (plural directores, feminine directora, feminine plural directoras)

1. Superseded spelling of diretor. (Superseded in Brazil by the 1943 spelling reform and by the Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement of 1990 elsewhere. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn’t come into effect.)

Romanian

Etymology

From French directeur.

Noun

director m (plural directori)

1. director
2. principal

   Profesorul este cu directorul.

   The teacher is with the school principal.

Declension

Declension of director

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) director	directorul	(niște) directori	directorii
genitive/dative	(unui) director	directorului	(unor) directori	directorilor
vocative	directorule		directorilor

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin directorem, from Latin directus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diɾeɡˈtoɾ/ [d̪i.ɾeɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: di‧rec‧tor

Noun

director m (plural directores, feminine directora, feminine plural directoras)

1. director
2. conductor (of musical ensembles)
3. (school) principal, headmaster
4. editor (a person at a newspaper, publisher or similar institution who edits stories and/or decides which ones to publish)

Derived terms

• carta al director
• director de funeraria
• director de pompas fúnebres
• director funerario
• director técnico
• directorial

 

Related terms

• dirección
• directo
• directora
• dirigir

 

Further reading

• “director”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014