benefactor

• benefactour (obsolete)

From Middle English benefactor, borrowed from Medieval Latin benefactor (“he who bestows a favor”), from Latin benefaciō (“benefit someone”), from bene (“good”) + faciō (“do, make”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛnəˌfaktə/
• (General American) enPR: bĕn'əfăktər, IPA^(key): /ˈbɛnəˌfæktɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ben‧e‧fac‧tor

benefactor (plural benefactors)

1. Somebody who gives a gift, often money to a charity.

   The orphanage was supported by a generous benefactor.

   anonymous benefactor

   generous benefactor

   chief benefactor

2. Someone who performs good or noble deeds.

• benfactor

Borrowed from Late Latin benefactōrem.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [bə.nə.fəkˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [be.ne.fakˈtoɾ]

benefactor m (plural benefactors, feminine benefactora, feminine plural benefactores)

1. benefactor

• malfactor, malefactor

• “benefactor”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “benefactor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “benefactor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “benefactor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From benefaciō or benefactus +‎ -tor.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [bɛ.nɛˈfak.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [be.neˈfak.t̪or]

benefactor m (genitive benefactōris); third declension

1. (Late Latin) benefactor; one who confers a favour

Third-declension noun.

• malefactor

• benefactus

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

Borrowed from Late Latin benefactor, from Latin benefaciō. Compare the inherited doublet bienhechor.

• IPA^(key): /benefaɡˈtoɾ/ [be.ne.faɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: be‧ne‧fac‧tor

benefactor m (plural benefactores, feminine benefactora, feminine plural benefactoras)

1. benefactor

• “benefactor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024