reader

See also: Reader

English

Etymology

From Middle English reder, redar, redere, redare, from Old English rēdere, rǣdere (“a reader; scholar; diviner”), from Proto-Germanic *rēdārijaz, equivalent to read +‎ -er. Cognate with Dutch rader (“advisor”), German Rater (“advisor”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹidɚ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈɹiːdə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːdə(ɹ)

Noun

reader (plural readers)

1. A person who reads a publication.
2. A person who recites literary works, usually to an audience.
3. A proofreader.
4. A person employed by a publisher to read works submitted for publication and determine their merits
   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, Chapter VIII, p. 123, [1]

     They were dog-eared by the hands of many a publisher's-reader and postman.

5. (chiefly British) A university lecturer below a professor.
6. Any device that reads something.

   a card reader, a microfilm reader

7. A book of exercises to accompany a textbook.
8. An elementary textbook for those learning to read, especially for foreign languages.
9. A literary anthology.
10. A lay or minor cleric who reads lessons in a church service.
11. A newspaper advertisement designed to look like a news article rather than a commercial solicitation.
12. Reading glasses

Derived terms

• early reader

Translations

person who reads a publication

• Albanian: lexues (sq) m, lexuese f
• Arabic: قَارِئ m (qāriʔ), قَارِئَة f (qāriʔa)
• Armenian: ընթերցող (hy) (əntʻercʻoġ)
• Azerbaijani: oxucu (az)
• Bashkir: уҡыусы (uqıwsı)
• Basque: irakurle
• Belarusian: чыта́ч m (čytáč), чыта́чка f (čytáčka)
• Bengali: পাঠক (paṭhok)
• Breton: lenner (br) m
• Bulgarian: чита́тел (bg) m (čitátel), четец (bg) m (četec)
• Burmese: ဖတ်သူ (hpatsu)
• Catalan: lector (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 讀者／读者 (zh) (dúzhě), 读者 (zh) (dúzhě)

• Czech: čtenář (cs) m
• Danish: læser (da) c
• Dutch: lezer (nl) m
• Esperanto: leganto
• Estonian: lugeja (et)
• Faroese: lesari m
• Finnish: lukija (fi)
• French: lecteur (fr) m, lectrice (fr) f
• Georgian: მკითხველი (mḳitxveli)
• German: Leser (de) m, Leserin (de) f
• Greek: αναγνώστης (el) m (anagnóstis), αναγνώστρια (el) f (anagnóstria)

  Ancient: ἀναγνώστης m (anagnṓstēs)

• Gujarati: વાંચનાર (vā̃cnār)
• Hindi: पाठक (hi) m (pāṭhak), पाठिका (hi) f (pāṭhikā), रीडर (hi) m (rīḍar)
• Hungarian: olvasó (hu)
• Icelandic: lesandi (is) m
• Irish: léitheoir m
• Italian: lettore (it) m, lettrice f
• Japanese: 読者 (ja) (どくしゃ, dokusha), リーダー (ja) (rīdā)
• Kalmyk: умшач (umşaç)
• Kazakh:

  Arabic: وقۋشى, وقىرمان

  Cyrillic: оқушы (kk) (oquşy), оқырман (oqyrman)

  Latin: oqýshy, oqyrman

• Khmer: អ្នកអាន (nĕək ʼaan)
• Korean: 독자 (ko) (dokja), 읽는 사람 (ingneun saram)
• Kyrgyz: окуучу (ky) (okuucu), окурман (okurman)
• Lao: ຜູ້ອ່ານ (phū ʼān)
• Latin: lector (la) m, lectrix f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: lasītājs m
• Lithuanian: skaitytojas (lt) m
• Low German: Leser m, Leserin f, Lesersch f, Lesersche f, Läser m, Läserin f, Läsersch f, Läsersche f
• Macedonian: читач m (čitač)
• Malay: pembaca
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: уншигч (mn) (unšigč)

  Mongolian: ᠤᠩᠰᠢᠭᠴᠢ (ungsiɣči)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: leser (no) m

  Nynorsk: lesar m

• Occitan: legeire (oc) m, legeira (oc) f
• Pashto: لوستونکى m (lwəstúnkay)
• Persian: خواننده (fa) (xânande)
• Polish: czytelnik (pl) m, czytelniczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: leitor (pt) m
• Romanian: cititor (ro) m, cititoare (ro) f
• Russian: чита́тель (ru) (čitátelʹ), чита́тельница (ru) f (čitátelʹnica)
• Scottish Gaelic: leughadair m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: чѝтатељ m, чѝталац m, читатѐљица f

  Roman: čìtatelj (sh) m, čìtalac (sh) m, čitatèljica (sh) f

• Skolt Sami: lookki
• Slovak: čitateľ m
• Slovene: bralec (sl) m, bralka f
• Spanish: lector (es) m, lectora f
• Swahili: msomaji (sw)
• Swedish: läsare (sv) c
• Tagalog: basahan, mambabasa
• Tajik: хонанда (tg) (xonanda)
• Tatar: укучы (tt) (uquçı)
• Thai: ผู้อ่าน (pûu-àan)
• Turkish: okuyucu (tr)
• Turkmen: okyjy
• Tuvan: номчукчу (nomçukçu)
• Ukrainian: чита́ч m (čytáč), чита́чка f (čytáčka)
• Urdu: قاری m (qārī), ریڈر m (rīḍar)
• Uyghur: ئوقۇغۇچى (ug) (oqughuchi), كىتابخان (kitabxan), ئوقۇرمەن (oqurmen)
• Uzbek: kitobxon (uz), oʻquvchi (uz)
• Welsh: darllenydd (cy) m
• West Frisian: lêzer
• Yakut: ааҕааччы (aağaaccı)
• Yiddish: לייענער m (leyener), לייענערין f (leyenerin), לעזער m (lezer), לעזערין f (lezerin)
• Yola: readeare

person who recites literary works, usually to an audience

• Arabic: قَارِئ m (qāriʔ), قَارِئَة f (qāriʔa)
• Czech: předčítač m
• German: Vorleser (de) m, Vorleserin (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀναγνώστης m (anagnṓstēs)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: felolvasó
• Latin: lector (la) m, lectrix f

proofreader — see proofreader

person employed by a publisher to read works and determine their merits

• Arabic: قَارِئ m (qāriʔ), قَارِئَة f (qāriʔa)
• Czech: korektor m, lektor m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Verlagslektor m
• Hungarian: lektor (hu)

lecturer — see lecturer

any device that reads something

• Arabic: قَارِئ m (qāriʔ)
• Czech: čtečka (cs) f
• German: Lesegerät n
• Hungarian: olvasó (hu), leolvasó
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Indonesian: pembaca (id)
• Maori: pūpānui
• Polish: czytnik (pl) m
• Serbo-Croatian: čitač (sh) m

a book of exercises to accompany a textbook

• German: Übungsbuch n, Übungsheft n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

an elementary textbook for those learning to read, especially for foreign languages

• Burmese: ဖတ်စာ (my) (hpatca)
• German: Lesebuch (de) n
• Hungarian: olvasókönyv (hu), szöveggyűjtemény
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: хрестома́тия (ru) f (xrestomátija), кни́га для чте́ния f (kníga dlja čténija)
• Uyghur: خرېستوماتىيە (xrëstomatiye)

a literary anthology

• German: Anthologie (de) f, Blütenlese (de) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: antológia (hu)

Anagrams

• dearer, reared, reread