drummer

See also: Drummer

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɹʌmə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɹʌmɚ/
• Rhymes: -ʌmə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From drum +‎ -er (occupational suffix) or +‎ -er (relational noun suffix).

Noun

drummer (plural drummers)

2. (music) One who plays the drums.

   Kate is the lead guitarist, Luna is the drummer, and Izzy is the bass guitarist.

   • 2015 June 18, Nate Chinen, “Review: Eric Revis Trio Lets the Music Lead the Way at the Jazz Gallery”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 16 June 2022:

     The Eric Revis Trio, featuring the pianist Kris Davis, the bassist Eric Revis and the drummer Gerald Cleaver performing at the Jazz Gallery.Credit...

3. A drumstick (the lower part of a chicken or turkey leg).
4. Any of various fish of the family Kyphosidae, which make a drumming sound.
   • 1983, The Fisherman Who Laughed, page 67:

     Bullock's liver will catch drummer.

Usage notes

The term drummer is usually used for contemporary or popular musicians, whereas a classical musician is typically called a percussionist.

Synonyms

• (musician who plays drums): drummist, drumslade (obsolete), percussionist, stickman
• (salesman): hawker, peddler

Derived terms

• bass drummer
• bucket drummer
• different drummer
• double drummer
• drummerless
• frame drummer
• golden drummer
• kettledrummer
• march to a different drummer
• march to one's own drummer
• march to the beat of a different drummer
• march to the beat of one's own drummer
• orange drummer
• snare drummer
• steel drummer
• talking-drummer, talking drummer
• tenor drummer
• tom-tom drummer

Translations

one who plays the drums

• Afrikaans: tromspeler
• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: طبال m (ṭabbāl)

• Armenian: թմբկահար (hy) (tʻmbkahar)
• Bashkir: барабансы (barabansı)
• Bulgarian: барабанчик m (barabančik), барабанист m (barabanist)
• Catalan: bateria (ca) m or f, baterista (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鼓手 (zh) (gǔshǒu)

• Czech: bubeník (cs) m, bubenice f
• Dutch: drummer (nl) m, drumspeler m, drumspeelster f
• Esperanto: tamburisto
• Estonian: trummar
• Ewe: ʋuƒola m
• Finnish: rumpali (fi), rummunsoittaja
• French: batteur (fr) m, batteuse (fr) f, drummer (fr) m, drummeur (fr) m, drummeuse (fr) f
• Galician: tamborileiro (gl) m, tamborileira f, tamboreteiro m, tamboreteira f, batería (gl) m or f
• German: Schlagzeuger (de) m, Schlagzeugerin (de) f, Trommler (de) m, Trommlerin (de) f, Drummer m, Drummerin f, Schlagzeugspieler m, Schlagzeugspielerin f,
• Greek: τυμπανιστής (el) m (tympanistís), τυμπανίστρια (el) f (tympanístria), ντράμερ (el) m or f (ntrámer), ντραμίστας (el) m (ntramístas)

  Ancient Greek: τυμπανιστής m (tumpanistḗs)

• Hausa: makaɗi
• Hungarian: dobos (hu)
• Icelandic: trommuleikari m, trommari m
• Indonesian: drumer (id)
• Irish: drumadóir m
• Italian: batterista (it) m or f
• Japanese: 鼓手 (ja) (こしゅ, koshu), ドラマー (ja) (doramā)
• Karok: imthanuvnúvaan
• Kazakh: дабылшы (dabılšı), дағырашы (dağırašı)
• Korean: 드러머 (deureomeo)
• Ktunaxa: kt̓amuxu
• Kyrgyz: добулбасчы (dobulbascı)
• Macedonian: тапанар m (tapanar), тапанарка f (tapanarka)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: batterist m, trommeslager (no) m, trommis (no) m

  Nynorsk: batterist m, trommeslagar m, trommis m

• Polish: perkusista (pl) m, perkusistka (pl) f, dobosz (pl) m, doboszka f, bębniarz (pl) m, bębnista m (dated)
• Portuguese: baterista (pt) m or f
• Romanian: baterist (ro) m, bateristă f, drummer (ro) m, toboșar (ro) m
• Russian: бараба́нщик (ru) m (barabánščik), бараба́нщица (ru) f (barabánščica)
• Slovak: bubeník (sk) m, bubeníčka f
• Spanish: batería (es) m or f (Spain), baterista (es) m or f (Latin America)
• Swahili: mpiga ngoma
• Swedish: trummis (sv) c, trumslagare (sv) c, batterist (sv) c
• Tagalog: tambolero
• Tamil: பறையன் (ta) (paṟaiyaṉ)
• Turkish: baterist (tr), davulcu (tr)
• Turkmen: deprekçi, depçi
• Ukrainian: бараба́нщик (uk) m (barabánščyk), бараба́нщиця f (barabánščycja)
• Volapük: truman (vo), hitruman (male), jitruman (female)
• Yiddish: פּײַקלער m (paykler)

traveling salesman

• Bulgarian: пътуващ търговец (pătuvašt tărgovec)
• Dutch: kramer (nl) m
• Finnish: kauppamatkustaja
• Irish: taistealaí tráchtála m
• Portuguese: vendedor ambulante m, vendedora ambulante f
• Romanian: vânzător ambulant m
• Russian: коробе́йник (ru) m (korobéjnik)
• Spanish: vendedor ambulante (es) m, vendedora ambulante f, vendedor itinerante m, vendedora itinerante f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} طَبَّال pl (ṭabbāl)

Etymology 2

Etymology tree

English drum

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂s(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-āsijos

Proto-Italic *-āsios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

▲

Latin -ārius

Old French -ierbor.

Middle English -er

English -er

English drummer

From drum (“house”) + -er.

Noun

drummer (plural drummers)

1. (UK, slang) A housebreaker.
   • 1999, Theatre Record, volume 19, numbers 17-20:

     Bennett's central figure, Ray, is first and foremost a serial "drummer" (housebreaker in crim-speak), and only secondly a human being, […]

2. (dated, slang) A travelling salesman.
   • 1953, Richard Bissell, chapter 14, in 7½ Cents‎^[2], Atlantic-Little, Brown, page 154:

     You know what life on the road is like — these poor salesmen when they don't sell some big account they been counting on why they go into one terrible slump they set there in the hotel room brooding over it and after a while they go out and meet some other drummer down in the lobby and start chewing the rag about all their troubles and then they get feeling so sorry they go across the street and commence drinking beer and about three hours later they come back to the room and write the house one of these here letters how rotten the product is.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English drummer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdrʏ.mər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: drum‧mer
• Rhymes: -ʏmər

Noun

drummer m (plural drummers, diminutive drummertje n)

1. (music) drummer (especially one who plays a drum kit)

Synonyms

• percussionist
• slagwerker
• trommelaar

Related terms

• drumstel

French

Alternative forms

• drummeur

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʁœ.mœʁ/

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

drummer m or f by sense (plural drummers, feminine drummeuse)

1. drummer

   Synonym: batteur

Further reading

• “drummer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

English drum

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂s(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-āsijos

Proto-Italic *-āsios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

▲

Latin -ārius

Old French -ierbor.

Middle English -er

English -er

English drummerubor.

Romanian drummer

Unadapted borrowing from English drummer.

Noun

drummer m (uncountable)

1. drummer

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	drummer	drummerul
genitive-dative	drummer	drummerului
vocative	drummerule