president

See also: President and président

English

Alternative forms

• President (honorifically)
• præsident (archaic)

Etymology

From Old French president, from Latin praesidēns ‎(“presiding over; president, leader”) (accusative: praesidentem). The Latin word is the substantivized present active participle of the verb praesideō ‎(“preside over”). The verb is composed from prae ‎(“before”) and sedeō ‎(“sit”). The original meaning of the verb is 'to sit before' in the sense of presiding at a meeting. A secondary meaning of the verb is 'to command, to govern'. So praesidēns means 'the presiding one on a meeting' or 'governor, commander'.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛzɨdənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pre‧si‧dent

Noun

president ‎(plural presidents)

1. The head of state of a republic, a representative democracy and sometimes a dictatorship.
   • 2007, Benjamin Camins, Hillary Is the Best Choice, Page 144

     […] to change the pattern of the last 220 years of only voting for a white male president, and elect a woman president […]

   The vast majority of presidents have been male.

2. Primary leader of a corporation. Not to be confused with CEO, which is a related but separate position that is sometimes held by a different person.
3. A person presiding over a meeting, chair, presiding officer, presider.
4. Obsolete form of precedent.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (American head of state): POTUS
• (head of a college or university): provost (UK)
• (head of various specific bodies): prepositus
• (informal, jocular): prez

Translations

the head of state of a republic

• Afrikaans: president
• Albanian: president (sq) m
• Amharic: ፕሬዝዳንት ‎(pərezdant)
• Antillean Creole: prézidann
• Arabic: رَئِيس m ‎(raʾīs)
• Armenian: նախագահ (hy) ‎(naxagah)
• Asturian: presidente m
• Azeri: prezident
• Basque: lehendakari
• Belarusian: прэзідэ́нт m ‎(prezidént)
• Bengali: রাষ্ট্রপতি ‎(raṣṭrôpti)
• Breton: prezidant m
• Bulgarian: президе́нт m ‎(prezidént)
• Burmese: သမ္မတ (my) ‎(samma.ta.)
• Buryat: юрэнхылэгшэ ‎(jurenxylegše)
• Catalan: president (ca) m, presidenta f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 總統, 总统 ‎(zung² tung²)

  Hakka: 總統, 总统 ‎(chúng-thúng)

  Mandarin: 總統 (zh), 总统 (zh) ‎(zǒngtǒng), 主席 (zh) ‎(zhǔxí)

  Min Dong: 總統, 总统 ‎(cūng-tūng)

  Wu: 總統, 总统 ‎(tson thon)

• Czech: prezident (cs) m, prezidentka f
• Danish: præsident (da) c
• Dutch: president (nl) m
• Erzya: прявт ‎(prjavt)
• Esperanto: prezidento
• Estonian: president (et)
• Faroese: forseti m
• Finnish: presidentti (fi)
• French: président (fr) m, présidente (fr) f
• Galician: presidente (gl) m
• Georgian: პრეზიდენტი ‎(ṗrezidenṭi)
• German: Präsident (de) m, Präsidentin (de) f
• Greek: πρόεδρος (el) m, f ‎(próedros)
• Haitian Creole: prezidan
• Hebrew: נָשִׂיא (he) ‎(nasí)
• Hindi: राष्ट्रपति (hi) m ‎(rāṣṭrapti)
• Hungarian: elnök (hu)
• Icelandic: forseti (is) m
• Indonesian: presiden (id)
• Irish: uachtarán m
• Italian: presidente (it) m, presidente della repubblica m, capo dello stato m
• Japanese: 大統領 (ja) ‎(だいとうりょう, daitōryō), 総統 (ja) ‎(そうとう, sōtō)
• Kalmyk: ерңкәлгч ‎(yerñkälgç)
• Kannada: ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಪತಿ (kn) ‎(rāṣṭrapati)
• Kazakh: президент (kk) ‎(prezïdent), елбасы ‎(elbası)
• Khmer: ប្រធានាធិបតី (km) ‎(prɑtʰienietʰɨppadəy)
• Korean: 대통령 (ko) ‎(daetongnyeong) (大統領 (ko)), 총통 ‎(chongtong)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: serok (ku)

  Sorani: سه‌رۆک (ku)

• Kyrgyz: президент (ky) ‎(prezident)
• Lao: ປະທານາທິບໍດີ ‎(pa thā nā thi bǭ dī)
• Latin: praesidens m, praesidentis (genitive)

• Latvian: prezidents m, prezidente f
• Lithuanian: prezidentas (lt) m, prezidentė (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: President m
• Macedonian: претсе́дател m ‎(pretsédatel)
• Malay: presiden
• Malayalam: പ്രസിഡന്റ് ‎(prasiḍanṟ)
• Maltese: president m
• Manx: eaghtyrane m
• Maori: perehitini
• Marathi: राष्ट्राध्यक्ष m ‎(rāṣṭrādhyakṣ)
• Mongolian: ерөнхийлөгч (mn) ‎(jerönhijlögč)
• Navajo: naatʼáanii, alą́ąjįʼ dahsidáhígíí
• Norman: président m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: president (no) m

• Occitan: president m
• Pashto: ولسمشر (ps) m ‎(wolǝsmǝ́šǝr), اولسمشر m ‎(ulǝsmǝšr), صدر (ps) m ‎(sádǝr), ریيس m ‎(rayís)
• Persian: رئیس‌جمهور ‎(ra'is-e-jomhur), پرزیدنت (fa) ‎(prezident), رئيس (fa) ‎(ra'es)
• Polish: prezydent (pl) m pers, f, prezydentka (pl) f
• Portuguese: presidente (pt) m, f, presidenta (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ ‎(rāśṭaraptī)
• Romanian: președinte (ro) m, f, președintă (ro) f
• Russian: президе́нт (ru) m ‎(prezidént), глава́ госуда́рства m, f ‎(glavá gosudárstva) (head of state)
• Scots: preses
• Scottish Gaelic: ceann-suidhe m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пре́дсједнӣк m (Ijekavian), пре́дсједница f (Ijekavian); пре́дседнӣк m (Ekavian), пре́дседница f (Ekavian)

  Roman: prédsjednīk (sh) m (Ijekavian), prédsjednica (sh) f (Ijekavian); prédsednīk m (Ekavian), prédsednica f (Ekavian)

• Sinhalese: ජනාධිපති ‎(janādhipati)
• Slovak: prezident m, prezidentka f
• Slovene: predsednik (sl) m, predsednica f
• Somali: madaxweyne
• Spanish: presidente (es) m, presidenta (es) f
• Swahili: rais (sw)
• Swedish: president (sv) c
• Tajik: президент (tg) ‎(prezident), раис ‎(rayis)
• Tamil: ஜனாதிபதி (ta) ‎(jaṉātipati)
• Tatar: президент ‎(prezident), рәис (tt) ‎(räis)
• Telugu: అధ్యక్షుడు (te) ‎(adhyakṣuḍu)
• Thai: ประธานาธิบดี ‎(bprà-taa-naa-tí-bɔɔ-dii)
• Turkish: cumhurbaşkanı (tr)
• Turkmen: prezident
• Udmurt: азьмурт ‎(azʹmurt)
• Ukrainian: президе́нт (uk) m ‎(prezydént)
• Urdu: صدر m ‎(sadr)
• Uyghur: پرېزىدېنت ‎(prëzidënt)
• Uzbek: prezident (uz)
• Vietnamese: tổng thống (vi) (of a capitalist state), chủ tịch (vi) (of a socialist state)
• Walloon: prezidint (wa) m, prezidinte f
• Welsh: arlywydd m
• Yiddish: פּרעזידענט m ‎(prezident)

the primary leader of a corporation

• Asturian: presidente m
• Burmese: ဥက္ကဌ ‎(u.kka.hta.)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 總裁 (zh), 总裁 (zh) ‎(zǒngcái), 主席 (zh) ‎(zhǔxí), 會長 (zh), 会长 (zh) ‎(huìzhǎng) (club, committee, etc.)

• Esperanto: prezidanto, prezidantino
• Finnish: hallituksen puheenjohtaja (fi)
• French: président (fr) m, présidente (fr) f
• Greek: πρόεδρος (el) m, f ‎(próedros)
• Icelandic: forstjóri m
• Ido: prezidanto (io)
• Japanese: 社長 ‎(しゃちょう, shachō)
• Khmer: ប្រធាន (km) ‎(prɑtʰien)
• Korean: 회장 (ko) ‎(hoejang) (會長 (ko)), 사장 (ko) ‎(sajang)

• Persian: رئيس (fa) ‎(ra'es)
• Polish: prezes (pl), przewodniczący (pl), dyrektor (pl), rektor (pl)
• Portuguese: presidente (pt) m, f
• Romanian: președinte (ro) m
• Russian: президе́нт (ru) m ‎(prezidént), генера́льный дире́ктор (ru) m ‎(generálʹnyj diréktor)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceann-suidhe m
• Spanish: presidente (es) m, presidente director m
• Swahili: rais (sw)
• Swedish: styrelseordförande (sv) c
• Tajik: раис ‎(rayis)
• Thai: ประธาน (th) ‎(bprà-taan)
• Turkish: başkan (tr)
• Vietnamese: chủ tịch (vi), chủ tịch hội đồng quản trị
• Walloon: prezidint (wa) m, prezidinte f

a person presiding over a meeting, chair, presiding officer, presider

• Finnish: puheenjohtaja (fi)
• Latin: praepositus
• Persian: رییس جلسه

• Russian: председа́тель (ru) m ‎(predsedátelʹ), председа́тельница (ru) f ‎(predsedátelʹnica)
• Walloon: prezidint (wa) m, prezidinte f

Adjective

president ‎(not comparable)

1. (archaic) Occupying the first rank or chief place; having the highest authority; presiding.
   • Milton

     His angels president / In every province.

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Catalan

Noun

president m ‎(plural presidents)

1. president

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Czech

Noun

president m

1. Alternative spelling of prezident

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pre‧si‧dent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

president m ‎(plural presidenten, diminutive presidentje n)

1. president

Derived terms

• vicepresident

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Ladin

Alternative forms

• presidënt

Noun

president m ‎(plural presidenc)

1. president

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Middle French

Noun

president m (plural presidens)

1. president (leader of an organization)

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin praesidens

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: pre‧si‧dent

Noun

president m ‎(definite singular presidenten, indefinite plural presidenter, definite plural presidentene)

1. a president

Derived terms

• presidentvalg

References

• “president” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin praesidens

Noun

president m ‎(definite singular presidenten, indefinite plural presidentar, definite plural presidentane)

1. a president

References

• “president” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Spanish

Noun

president m ‎(plural presidents)

1. president of Catalonia

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Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

president c

1. a chairman, presiding member of an assembly, e.g. a court of law
2. a president, head of state in a republic

Declension

Inflection of president
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	president	presidenten	presidenter	presidenterna
Genitive	presidents	presidentens	presidenters	presidenternas

Related terms

hovrättspresident presidentbostad presidentföredragning presidenthustru presidentkampanj presidentkandidat presidentmakt presidentpalats

presidentperiod presidentpost presidentskap presidentskifte presidentstyre presidentur presidentval

presidentämbete presidiera vicepresident

References

• president in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)