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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

author.

The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition; or, one of the creators of a collaborative work.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈɔː.θə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈoː.θə/Australia, New-Zealand/ˈɔ.θɚ/General-American[ˈɔ.θɚ] ~ [ˈɔ.θɹ̩]General-American
  1. The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition; or, one of the creators of a collaborative work.

    The copyright of any original writing belongs initially and properly to its author.
    Have you read any Corinthian authors?
  2. The initial owner of the copyright to a work, especially a work made for hire or a work of corporate authorship.

    US
    The author named on the copyright registration for the Android robot is Google Inc.
  3. Someone who writes books for a living.

  4. Principal; the primary participant in a crime.

    obsolete
  5. One's authority for something: an informant.

    archaic
  6. The creator or cause of anything.

    figuratively
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₂owg-éye-ti Proto-Italic *augejō Proto-Italic *augeō Latin augeō Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Italic *-tōr Latin -tor Latin auctor Anglo-Norman autourbor. Middle English auctour English author From Middle English auctour, from Anglo-Norman autour, from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, from augeō (“to increase, originate”). The h, also found in Middle French autheur, is unetymological as there is no h in the original Latin spelling. The OED attributes the h to contamination by authentic. Doublet of auteur.

verb/ˈɔː.θə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈoː.θə/Australia, New-Zealand/ˈɔ.θɚ/General-American[ˈɔ.θɚ] ~ [ˈɔ.θɹ̩]General-American
  1. To create a work as its author.

    US · proscribed · sometimes
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₂owg-éye-ti Proto-Italic *augejō Proto-Italic *augeō Latin augeō Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Italic *-tōr Latin -tor Latin auctor Anglo-Norman autourbor. Middle English auctour English author From Middle English auctour, from Anglo-Norman autour, from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, from augeō (“to increase, originate”). The h, also found in Middle French autheur, is unetymological as there is no h in the original Latin spelling. The OED attributes the h to contamination by authentic. Doublet of auteur.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.