comptroller
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From late Middle English compteroller, a spelling variant of countreroller (from which controller) due to folk etymology: the word was thought to have an etymological connection with Middle French compte (“account”) (Middle French compteroleur is attested circa 1375). Originally the two spellings were equivalent and pronounced identically; the modern pronunciation with [mp] is based on the spelling.
Pronunciation
[edit]- either as controller or as IPA(key): [kəmpˈtɹoʊləɹ], [kəmˈtɹoʊləɹ]
Audio (US): (file) Audio (US): (file) - Homophone: controller
- Rhymes: -əʊlə(ɹ)
Noun
[edit]comptroller (plural comptrollers)
- The chief accountant of a company or government.
- 1660 February 11 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “February 1st, 1659–1660”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume I, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC, page 339:
- So the Comptroller and I thence to a tavern hard by, and there did agree upon drawing up some letters to be sent to all the pursers and Clerks of the Cheques to make up their accounts.
- 1988, Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 237:
- The terms of the licence shall, in default of agreement, be settled by the comptroller.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]the chief accountant of a company or government — see controller
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English terms with homophones
- Rhymes:English/əʊlə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/əʊlə(ɹ)/3 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations