initiator

See also: Initiator

English

Etymology

From initiate +‎ -or.

Noun

initiator (plural initiators)

1. One who initiates.
2. (chemistry) A substance that initiates a chain reaction or polymerization.
3. (military) A component of a nuclear weapon that produces a burst of neutrons to trigger a fission chain reaction.
   • 1984, Frederick Forsyth, The Fourth Protocol, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 301:

     ‘This, er, initiator of polonium and lithium, would it be used in an anti-personnel bomb?’ he asked. ‘Oh yes, you could say so, boyo,’ replied the Welshman. ‘An initiator, you see, is what sets off a nuke.’

4. (computing) A task (in a mainframe computer) that initiates multiple jobs.
5. (medicine) A material whose presence in the body eventually leads to cancer.

Derived terms

• pyrotechnic initiator

Translations

one who initiates

• Arabic: مُبَادِر (mubādir)
• Azerbaijani: təşəbbüskar
• Bulgarian: инициатор (bg) m (iniciator)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 创办者，发起人

• Dutch: initiator (nl) m
• Finnish: alullepanija (fi), aloittaja (fi), käynnistäjä (fi)
• French: initiateur (fr) m, initiatrice (fr) f
• German: Initiator (de) m, Initiatorin (de) f
• Indonesian: inisiator (id), pemrakarsa (id), pelopor (id)
• Italian: iniziatore (it) m, iniziatrice (it) f
• Japanese: 言い出しっ屁 (いいだしっぺ, iidashippe)
• Malay: pemula (ms)
• Russian: инициа́тор (ru) m (iniciátor), основополо́жник (ru) m (osnovopolóžnik)

chemistry: substance that initiates a chain reaction or polymerization

• Finnish: käynnistäjä (fi)
• German: Initiator (de) m

military: component of a nuclear weapon

• Finnish: laukaisin (fi)

computing: task that initiates multiple jobs

medicine: material whose presence in the body eventually leads to cancer

• Finnish: käynnistäjä (fi), initiaattori

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

• Italian: iniziatore (it) m

Latin

Verb

initiātor

1. second/third-person singular future passive imperative of initiō

References

• “initiator”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• initiator 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)
• initiator in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.