Wiktionary

factor

See also: Factor

English edit

 
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Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Middle French facteur, from Latin factor (“a doer, maker, performer”), from factus (“done or made”), perfect passive participle of faciō (“do, make”).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

factor (plural factors)

  1. (obsolete) A doer, maker; a person who does things for another person or organization.
    The factor of the trading post bought the furs.
  2. An agent or representative.
  3. (law)
    1. A commission agent.
    2. A person or business organization that provides money for another's new business venture; one who finances another's business.
    3. A business organization that lends money on accounts receivable or buys and collects accounts receivable.
  5. One of the elements, circumstances, or influences which contribute to produce a result.
    The greatest factor in the decision was the need for public transportation.
    The economy was a factor in this year's budget figures.
    • 1864-1898, Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology
      the material and dynamical factors of nutrition
  6. (mathematics) Any of various objects multiplied together to form some whole.
    3 is a factor of 12, as are 2, 4 and 6.
    The factors of the Klein four-group are both cyclic of order 2.
    • 1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 38:
      The first thousand primes […] marched in order before him […] the complete sequence of all those numbers that possessed no factors except themselves and unity.
  7. (causal analysis) Influence; a phenomenon that affects the nature, the magnitude, and/or the timing of a consequence.
    The launch temperature was a factor of the Challenger disaster.
    • 2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:
      Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems— […]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies.
  8. (economics) A resource used in the production of goods or services, a factor of production.
    • 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
      The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them […] is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.
  9. (Scotland) A steward or bailiff of an estate.

Hyponyms edit

Hyponyms of factor (noun)

Derived terms edit

Terms derived from factor (noun) (some may be hyponyms)

Related terms edit

Terms etymologically related to factor (noun)

Translations edit

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

See also edit

Other terms used in arithmetic operations:

Advanced hyperoperations: tetration, pentation, hexation

Verb edit

factor (third-person singular simple present factors, present participle factoring, simple past and past participle factored)

  1. (transitive) To find all the factors of (a number or other mathematical object) (the objects that divide it evenly).
  2. (of a number or other mathematical object, intransitive) To be a product of other objects.
  3. (commercial, transitive) To sell a debt or debts to an agent (the factor) to collect.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

See also edit

Further reading edit

Catalan edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin factōrem.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

factor m (plural factors)

  1. doer, agent (someone who does something)
  2. factor (element, important part)
  3. (biology, mathematics) factor
  4. (railroad) porter
  5. (business, commerce) agent (someone who buys and sells on someone else's behalf)

Further reading edit

Dutch edit

Etymology edit

From Middle Dutch factoor, from Middle French facteur, from Latin factor (“a doer, maker, performer”), from factus (“done or made”), perfect passive participle of faciō (“do, make”).

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈfɑk.tɔr/
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: fac‧tor

Noun edit

factor m (plural factoren, diminutive factortje n)

  1. a factor, element
    Een belangrijke factor voor succes is hard werken.
    A key factor for success is hard work.
  2. (mathematics) factor
    In de wiskunde kun je een getal ontbinden in factoren om het te vereenvoudigen.
    In mathematics, you can decompose a number into factors to simplify it.
  3. (obsolete) business representative

Descendants edit

  • Afrikaans: faktor
  • → Indonesian: faktor
  • → West Frisian: faktor

Latin edit

Etymology edit

From faciō (“to do, make”) +‎ -tor (masculine agent noun suffix).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

factor m (genitive factōris); third declension

  1. One who or which does or makes something; doer, maker, performer, perpetrator, agent, player.
    Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipoténtem, factórem cæli et terræ ― I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and earth.
  2. (sports) player, batsman

Declension edit

Third-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative factor factōrēs
Genitive factōris factōrum
Dative factōrī factōribus
Accusative factōrem factōrēs
Ablative factōre factōribus
Vocative factor factōrēs

Related terms edit

Descendants edit

References edit

  • “factor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • factor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • factor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • “factor”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “factor”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Portuguese edit

Noun edit

factor m (plural factores)

  1. Pre-reform spelling (until Brazil 1943/Portugal 1990) of fator. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

Romanian edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from French facteur.

Noun edit

factor m (plural factori)

  1. factor
  2. postal worker, postman, mailman

Declension edit

Declension of factor
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) factor factorul (niște) factori factorii
genitive/dative (unui) factor factorului (unor) factori factorilor
vocative factorule factorilor

Spanish edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin factor. Compare the inherited doublet hechor (cf. malhechor).

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /faɡˈtoɾ/ [faɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
  • Audio (Colombia):(file)
  • Rhymes: -oɾ
  • Syllabification: fac‧tor

Noun edit

factor m (plural factores)

  1. factor

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

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