president

See also: President, président, and præsident

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, feminine presidentess)

1. The head of state of a republic.
   • 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. In some countries, the head of government.
3. 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.
4. A person presiding over a meeting, chair, presiding officer, presider.
5. 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): prexy, prez

Translations

the head of state of a republic

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

  Cantonese: 總統／总统 (zung² tung²), 总统 (zung² tung²)

  Hakka: 總統／总统, 总统 (chúng-thúng)

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

  Min Dong: 總統／总统 (cūng-tūng), 总统 (cūng-tūng)

  Wu: 總統／总统 (⁵tson-thon), 总统 (tson thon)

• Czech: prezident (cs) m, prezidentka (cs) f
• Danish: præsident (da) c
• Dutch: president (nl) m
• Erzya: прявт (pŕavt)
• Esperanto: prezidento, prezidentino (female)
• Estonian: president (et)
• Faroese: forseti m
• Finnish: presidentti (fi)
• French: président (fr) m, présidente (fr) f
• Galician: presidente (gl) m, presidenta f
• Georgian: პრეზიდენტი (ṗrezidenṭi)
• German: Präsident (de) m, Präsidentin (de) f
• Greek: πρόεδρος (el) m or 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 or f, presidentessa (it) f, presidente della repubblica m or f, presidentessa della repubblica f, 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) (prezident), елбасы (elbasy)
• Khmer: ប្រធានាធិបតី (km) (prɑthiəniəthɨppaʼdəy)
• Korean: 대통령 (ko) (daetongnyeong), 총통 (chongtong)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji:

  Sorani:

• Kyrgyz: президент (ky) (prezident)
• Lao: ປະທານາທິບໍດີ (pa thā nā thi bǭ dī)
• Latin: praesidēns m or f
• Latvian: prezidents m, prezidente f
• Lithuanian: prezidentas (lt) m, prezidentė (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: President m
• Macedonian: претсе́дател m (pretsédatel)
• Malay: presiden
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malayalam: പ്രസിഡന്റ് (prasiḍanṟŭ)
• Maltese: president m
• Manchu: ᠪᡝ
  ᠯᡳᡳ
  ᡥᡳ
  ᡨ᠋ᡳᠶᠠᠨ
  ᡩ᠋ᡝ᠋ (be-lii-hi-tiyan-de)
• Manx: eaghtyrane m
• Maori: perehitini
• Marathi: राष्ट्राध्यक्ष m (rāṣṭrādhyakṣa)
• Mongolian: ерөнхийлөгч (mn) (jörönxiilögč)
• Navajo: naatʼáanii, alą́ąjįʼ dahsidáhígíí
• Norman: président m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: president (no) m

  Nynorsk: president 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), رئیس (fa) (ra'is), پرزیدنت (fa) (perezident)
• Polish: prezydent (pl) m pers or f, prezydentka (pl) f
• Portuguese: presidente (pt) m or f, presidenta (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰਪਤੀ (rāśṭaraptī)
• Romanian: președinte (ro) m or f, președintă (ro) f
• Russian: президе́нт (ru) m (prezidént), глава́ госуда́рства m or f (glavá gosudárstva) (head of state)
• Sardinian: presidente
• 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 (sk) m, prezidentka f
• Slovene: predsednik (sl) m, predsednica f
• Somali: madaxweyne
• Spanish: presidente (es) m or f, 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-típ-bɔɔ-dii)
• Turkish: cumhurbaşkanı (tr)
• Turkmen: prezident
• Udmurt: азьмурт (aźmurt)
• 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 (ukka.hta.)
• Chinese:

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

• Esperanto: prezidanto, virprezidanto (male) (also vira prezidanto), prezidantino (female)
• Finnish: hallituksen puheenjohtaja (fi)
• French: président (fr) m, présidente (fr) f
• Greek: πρόεδρος (el) m or f (próedros)
• Hungarian: elnök (hu)
• Icelandic: forstjóri m
• Ido: prezidanto (io), prezidantulo (male), prezidantino (female)
• Japanese: 社長 (ja) (しゃちょう, shachō)
• Khmer: ប្រធាន (km) (prɑthiən)
• Korean: 회장 (ko) (hoejang) (會長 (ko)), 사장 (ko) (sajang)
• Lao: ປະທານ (pa thān)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Persian: رئیس (fa) (ra'is)
• Polish: prezes (pl) m, przewodniczący (pl) m, dyrektor (pl) m, rektor (pl) m
• Portuguese: presidente (pt) m or f
• Romanian: președinte (ro) m
• Russian: президе́нт (ru) m (prezidént), генера́льный дире́ктор (ru) m (generálʹnyj diréktor)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceann-suidhe m
• Slovak: prezident (sk), prezidentka
• 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

• Belarusian: старшыня́ m (staršynjá)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 主席 (zh) (zhǔxí), 議長／议长 (zh) (yìzhǎng), 议长 (zh) (yìzhǎng)

• Finnish: puheenjohtaja (fi)
• German: Vorsitzender (de) m, Vorsitzende (de) f, Vorsitzer m, Vorsitzerin f
• Greek:

  Ancient: προστάτης m (prostátēs)

• Hungarian: elnök (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 議長 (ja) (ぎちょう, gichō)
• Korean: 의장 (ko) (uijang)
• Latin: praepositus
• Persian: رئیس جلسه (ra'is-e jalaseh)
• Russian: председа́тель (ru) m (predsedátelʹ), председа́тельница (ru) f (predsedátelʹnica), старшина (ru) (staršina)
• Ukrainian: голова́ (uk) m (holová)
• Walloon: prezidint (wa) m, prezidinte f
• Welsh: llywydd m

Adjective

president (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Occupying the first rank or chief place; having the highest authority; presiding.
   • (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     His angels president / In every province.

References

• “president”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “president”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

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Catalan

Noun

president m (plural presidents)

1. president

Related terms

• presidència
• presidencial
• presidir

Further reading

• “president” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “president”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “president” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “president” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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Czech

Noun

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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Occitan

Noun

president m (plural presidents)

1. president

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Spanish

Etymology

Catalan president

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

Declension 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 (SAOL)