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''preceptor'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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Primary

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''preceptor'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260919121947-00-⌔

preceptor - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

preceptor (plural preceptors)

  • A teacher or tutor. [from 15th c.]
    • ✤ A man who had thought so much on the subjects of language and education was surely no ordinary preceptor.1
    • ✤ When a youth of twelve years, - since, as Solomon says, “The root of learning is bitter, although the fruit is sweet - and following his literary pursuits, in order to avoid the discipline and frequent stripes inflicted on him by his preceptor, he ran away, and concealed himself under the hollow bank of a river[.]2
    • ✤ We shall resume our studies later on; but just now I am tired of playing the preceptor; and the eager thirst of my pupils for improvement does not console me for the slowness of their progress.3
  • (historical) The head of a preceptory of Knights Templar. [from 15th c.]
  • (medicine, chiefly US) A doctor who gives practical training to medical students, nurses etc. [from 19th c.]
    • ✤ Coordinate terms: orientee, mentee
    • ✤ Near-synonyms: mentor, professor

Etymology

From Middle English preceptor, preceptur, from Latin praeceptor (“commander; instructor”), from the verb praecipiō + -or (“-er: forming agent nouns”), from prae- (“pre-, fore-: before”) + capiō (“to take; to get, to take in, to understand”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /pɹɪˈsɛp.tə/
    • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • (General American) IPA: /ˈpɹiˌsɛp.tɚ/
  • (Australia) IPA: /pɹɪˈsep.tə/

Printed 2026-09-19.

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Footnotes

  1. c. 1793, Edward Gibbon, Memoirs, Penguin, published 1990, page 64: ↩

  2. 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume II, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 191: ↩

  3. 1905, George Bernard Shaw, The author’s apology from Mrs. Warren’s Profession, page 61: ↩

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Secondary

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