director

English

Alternative forms

• directour (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French directeur and its source Late Latin dīrēctor, dīrēctōrem, from Latin dīrēctus.

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)

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.
7. (electronics) A component of a Yagi–Uda antenna.

Derived terms

• art director
• co-director
• codirector
• director circle
• director conic
• director general
• director-general
• directorish
• directoritis
• directorless
• directorly
• director musices
• director of first impressions
• director of music
• director of photography
• directorship
• flight director
• funeral director
• guinea pig director
• hand director
• managing director
• multidirector
• nondirector
• superdirector
• vice-director
• vice director

Related terms

• directorate

Translations

supervisor, manager — see also 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) (film), рэжысёрка f (režysjórka) (film)
• Bulgarian: ръководи́тел (bg) m (rǎkovodítel), ръководи́телка f (rǎkovodítelka), дире́ктор (bg) m (diréktor), дире́кторка f (diréktorka), режисьо́р m (režisjór) (film), режисьо́рка f (režisjórka) (film)
• Carpathian Rusyn: режісер m (režiser)
• Catalan: director (ca) m, directora (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 經理 / 经理 (zh) (jīnglǐ), 導演 / 导演 (zh) (dǎoyǎn) (film), 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 (film), režisérka (cs) f (film)
• Danish: direktør c, instruktør c (film)
• Dutch: directeur (nl) m, directrice (nl) f, regisseur (nl) m, regisseuse (nl) f
• Esperanto: direktoro, direktorino (female), reĝisoro (eo), reĝisorino (female)
• Estonian: direktor, režissöör (film)
• Finnish: johtaja (fi), ohjaaja (fi) (film)
• French: directeur (fr) m, directrice (fr) f, régisseur (fr) m (film), régisseuse (fr) f (film)
• Galician: director (gl) m, directora f
• Georgian: დირექტორი (direkṭori), რეჟისორი (režisori)
• German: Direktor (de) m, Direktorin (de) f, Regisseur (de) m (film), Regisseurin (de) f (film)
• Greek: σκηνοθέτης (el) m (skinothétis) (film), σκηνοθέτρια (el) f (skinothétria) (film), διευθυντής (el) m (diefthyntís), διευθύντρια (el) f (diefthýntria)
• Greenlandic: pisortaq
• Guaraní: sãmbyhyhára
• Hausa: darekta (ha)
• Hebrew: מנהל \ מְנַהֵל m (menahél) (manager), מנהלת \ מְנַהֶלֶת f (menahélet) (manager), במאי \ בַּמַּאי (he) m (bamáy), במאית \ בַּמָּאִית f (bamáyt) (cinema, theater)
• 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 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 (film), režisore f (film)
• Lithuanian: direktorius m, direktorė f, režisierius m (film), režisierė f (film)
• Macedonian: директор (mk) m (direktor), режисер m (režiser) (film)
• Malay: pengarah (ms), sutradara (film), direktur
• Maori: whakataka, rungatohu
• Mongolian:

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

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

• Norman: directeu m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: direktør (no), regissør m (film)

  Nynorsk: direktør, regissør m (film)

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: کارْگَرْدان (kârgardân), مُدیر (modir)

• Polish: dyrektor (pl) m, dyrektorka (pl) f, reżyser (pl) m (film), reżyserka (pl) f (film)
• Portuguese: diretor (pt) m, diretora f
• Romanian: director (ro) m, directoare (ro) f, regizor (ro) m (film), regizoare (ro) f (film)
• Russian: дире́ктор (ru) m (diréktor), режиссёр (ru) m (režissjór) (film), дирижёр (ru) m (dirižór) (conductor)
• Serbo-Croatian:

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

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

• Slovak: riaditeľ m, riaditeľka f, režisér m (film), režisérka f (film)
• Slovene: direktor m, direktorica f, režiser (sl) m (film), režiserka f (film)
• Spanish: director (es) m, directora (es) f
• Swahili: mkurugenzi (sw)
• Swedish: chef (sv) c, direktör (sv) c, regissör (sv) c (film)
• Tajik: директор (tg) (direktor), мудир (tg) (mudir)
• Tok Pisin: dairekta
• Turkish: yönetmen (tr), müdür (tr)
• Turkmen: direktor
• Ukrainian: дире́ктор (uk) m (dyréktor), дире́кторка f (dyréktorka), режисе́р m (režysér) (film), 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) m, directora (es) f

Anagrams

• creditor

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin dīrēctōrem, from Latin dīrēctus. First attested in 1696.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [di.ɾəkˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [di.ɾekˈtoɾ]

Adjective

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

1. guiding, regulating, directing

Noun

director m (plural directors, feminine directora)

1. director
2. conductor
3. headteacher, principal

Related terms

• direcció
• directe
• dirigir

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.

Galician

Etymology

From Late Latin dīrēctōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /diɾɛkˈtoɾ/ [d̪i.ɾɛkˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Hyphenation: di‧rec‧tor

Noun

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

1. director

Derived terms

• codirector

Related terms

• dirixir

Further reading

• “director”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

Portuguese

Adjective

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

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of diretor. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

Noun

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

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of diretor. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French directeur.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

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	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	director	directorul		directori	directorii
genitive-dative	director	directorului		directori	directorilor
vocative	directorule			directorilor

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin dīrēctōrem, from Latin dīrēctus.

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

   Synonym: editor

Derived terms

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

Related terms

• dirección
• directo
• dirigir

Further reading

• “director”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10