Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “factor” come from?

Factor comes from Middle French facteur, from Latin factor meaning "one who does or makes," derived from Latin facio meaning "to do or make," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European dʰeh₁-.

factor (English): A doer, maker; a person who does things for...

Definitions

  1. A doer, maker; a person who does things for...

Ancestry of “factor”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchfacteur—
2LatinfactorOne who or which does or makes something; doer,...
3Latinfaciō—
4Latin-toriumnominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative...
5Latin-tōrius—
6Latin-tor-er
7Proto-Italic-tōr—
8Proto-Indo-European-tōrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
9Proto-Indo-European-tor-s—

Words derived from “factor”

  • factoring
  • cofactor
  • factorization
  • multifactor
  • refactor
  • prefactor
  • factorize
  • nonfactor
  • factorise
  • factorable
  • subfactor
  • multifactoral
  • factorage
  • factorizable
  • factorship
  • bifactor
  • factorability
  • refactorization
  • telefactor
  • factorisable
  • counterfactor
  • biofactor
  • factress
  • nonfactorizable
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s →