governor

See also: Governor

English

A flyball governor (mechanical), connected to a linkage to regulate flow.

Alternative forms

• gouernour, gouvernor, gouvernour, governer, governour (all obsolete)
• guvnah, guvnuh (both informal)

Etymology

From Middle English governour, borrowed from Old French gouvreneur, from Latin gubernator, from Ancient Greek κυβερνήτης (kubernḗtēs, “steersman, pilot, guide”), from κυβερνάω (kubernáō, “to steer, to drive, to guide, to act as a pilot”), from a Mediterranean substrate, likely (deprecated template usage) [etyl] .

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡʌv(ə)nə(ɹ)/
• IPA^(key): /ˈɡʌvəɹnəɹ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈɡʌvənə(ɹ)/
• IPA^(key): /ˈɡʌvənəɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

governor (plural governors, feminine governess)

1. (politics) The chief executive officer of a first-level division of a country.
   • 1999, Karen O'Connor, The essentials of American government: continuity and change, p 17

     Younger voters are more libertarian in political philosophy than older voters and are credited with the success of libertarian governor Jesse Ventura of Minnesota

2. A device which regulates or controls some action of a machine through automatic feedback.
3. A member of a decision-making for an organization or entity (including some public agencies) similar to or equivalent to a board of directors (used especially for banks); a member of the board of governors.

   The seven members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

   Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, www.federalreserve.gov (November 6, 2009)

4. (informal) Father.
   • 1869, Louisa May Alcott, An Old-Fashioned Girl:

     "Say 'father.' We never called him papa; and if one of my brothers had addressed him as 'governor,' as boys do now, I really think he'd have him cut off with a shilling."

5. (informal) Boss, employer.
6. (grammar) A constituent of a phrase that governs another.
7. (dated) One who has the care or guardianship of a young man; a tutor; a guardian.
8. (nautical) A pilot; a steersman.

Synonyms

• (head of a province): viceroy (of large divisions of a kingdom or empire); proconsul (of Roman regions, historical); bailiff, seneschal, intendant (of French regions, historical); tao tai (obsolete), circuit intendant, intendant, daotai (of Chinese regions, historical); provost (obsolete); gubernator (humorous)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• centrifugal governor
• gov'nor
• gov / gov.

• guv'nor
• guv

Related terms

Related terms

• cybernetics
• govern
• government
• governor-general, governor general, Governor-General, Governor General

• governorate
• gubernatorial
• Kubernetes

Descendants

• Bahamian Creole: governor
• Belizean Creole: govna
• Gullah: gobna
• Krio: governor
• Pichinglis: gɔvna, gɔbna
• Pijin: gavna
• Tobagonian Creole English: governor
• Tok Pisin: gavana
• → Hausa: gwamna
• → Irish: gobharnóir
• → Maori: kāwana
• → Samoan: kavana
• → Swahili: gavana
• → Malay: gabenor

Translations

leader of a region or state

• Afrikaans: goewerneur (af)
• Arabic: مُحَافِظ m (muḥāfiẓ), حَاكِم m (ḥākim)
• Armenian: նահանգապետ (hy) (nahangapet)
• Azerbaijani: qubernator
• Basque: gobernadore
• Belarusian: губерна́тар m (hubjernátar)
• Bengali: রাজ্যপাল (rajjopal)
• Bulgarian: губерна́тор (bg) m (gubernátor)
• Burmese: ဘုရင်ခံ (my) (bhu.ranghkam)
• Catalan: governador (ca) m
• Chichewa: bwanamkubwa
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 省長／省长 (zh) (shěngzhǎng), 省长 (zh) (shěngzhǎng) (esp. of a province), 州長／州长 (zh) (zhōuzhǎng), 州长 (zh) (zhōuzhǎng)

• Czech: guvernér (cs) m
• Danish: guvernør c
• Dutch: gouverneur (nl) m
• Esperanto: reganto, gubernatoro (eo), guberniento, guberniestro
• Estonian: valitsejer, kuberner
• Faroese: guvernørur m
• Finnish: kuvernööri (fi), maaherra (fi)
• French: gouverneur (fr) m, gouverneure (fr) f
• Galician: gobernador m
• Georgian: გუბერნატორი (ka) (gubernaṭori), კატაბანი (ḳaṭabani) (obsolete), მმართველი (mmartveli)
• German: Gouverneur (de) m, Gouverneurin (de) f
• Greek: κυβερνήτης (el) m (kyvernítis)
• Hausa: gwamna
• Hawaiian: kiaʻaina
• Hebrew: מושל m (moshel)
• Hindi: राज्यपाल (hi) m (rājyapāl), गवर्नर (hi) m (gavarnar)
• Hungarian: kormányzó (hu)
• Icelandic: ríkisstjóri m, landstjóri m, (dated) guvernör m, fylkisstjóri m
• Indonesian: gubernur (id)
• Irish: gobharnóir m
• Italian: governatore (it) m
• Japanese: 知事 (ちじ, chiji)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: អភិបាល (km) (ʼaʼphibaal), ទេសាភិបាល (km) (teisaaphibaal)
• Korean: 지사 (ko) (jisa) (知事 (ko))
• Latin: gubernātor m, gubernātrīx f
• Latvian: valdnieks m, gubernators m
• Lithuanian: gubernatorius m, valdytojas m
• Macedonian: губернатор m (gubernator)
• Malay: gabenor
• Maori: kāwana
• Middle English: governour
• Navajo: naatʼáanii
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: guvernør m, (on Svalbard) sysselmann m

  Nynorsk: guvernør m, (on Svalbard) sysselmann m

• Persian: فرماندار (fa) (farmândâr), والی (fa) (vâli)
• Polish: gubernator (pl) m
• Portuguese: governador (pt) m, governadora f
• Romanian: guvernator (ro) m, guvernant (ro) m
• Russian: губерна́тор (ru) m (gubernátor)
• Scottish Gaelic: riaghladair
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гувернер m

  Roman: guverner (sh) m

• Slovak: guvernér m
• Slovene: guverner m
• Sotho: mmusi
• Spanish: gobernador (es) m, gobernadora (es) f, odaake-ogimaa
• Swahili: liwali class 5/6
• Swedish: guvernör (sv) c
• Tagalog: gobernador
• Tajik: губернатор (gubernator), фармондор (farmondor), воли (voli)
• Taos: tòbúna (of pueblo)
• Thai: ผู้ว่าราชการ (pûu-wâa-râat-chá-gaan)
• Turkish: vali (tr)
• Ukrainian: губерна́тор m (hubernátor)
• Vietnamese: thống đốc (vi), thống sử

device which regulates or controls

• Bulgarian: регула́тор (bg) m (regulátor)
• Catalan: regulador m
• Czech: regulátor m
• Dutch: regelaar (nl)
• Finnish: säädin (fi), säätölaite
• Georgian: რეგულატორი (regulaṭori)
• German: Regler (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 調速機 (chōsokuki), ガバナー (gabanā)
• Portuguese: regulador m
• Romanian: regulator (ro) m
• Russian: регуля́тор (ru) m (reguljátor)
• Scottish Gaelic: rianadair m
• Swedish: regulator (sv) c, centrifugalregulator c
• Ukrainian: регуля́тор m (rehuljátor)

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

• (deprecated template usage) Korean: ^{(please verify)} 주지사 (jujisa)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

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Middle English

Noun

governor

1. Alternative form of governour