Wiktionary

factor

See also: Factor

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle French facteur, from Latin factor (“a doer, maker, performer”), from factus (“done or made”), perfect passive participle of faciō (“do, make”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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factor (plural factors)

  1. (obsolete) A doer, maker; a person who does things for another person or organization.
    The factor of the trading post bought the furs.
  2. An agent or representative.
  3. (law)
    1. A commission agent.
    2. A person or business organization that provides money for another's new business venture; one who finances another's business.
    3. A business organization that lends money on accounts receivable or buys and collects accounts receivable.
  5. One of the elements, circumstances, or influences which contribute to produce a result.
    The greatest factor in the decision was the need for public transportation.
    The economy was a factor in this year's budget figures.
    • 1864-1898, Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology
      the material and dynamical factors of nutrition
  6. (mathematics) Any of various objects multiplied together to form some whole.
    3 is a factor of 12, as are 2, 4 and 6.
    The factors of the Klein four-group are both cyclic of order 2.
    • 1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 38:
      The first thousand primes […] marched in order before him […] the complete sequence of all those numbers that possessed no factors except themselves and unity.
  7. (causal analysis) Influence; a phenomenon that affects the nature, the magnitude, and/or the timing of a consequence.
    The launch temperature was a factor of the Challenger disaster.
    • 2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:
      Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems— […]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies.
  8. (economics) A resource used in the production of goods or services, a factor of production.
    • 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
      The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them […] is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.
  9. (Scotland) A steward or bailiff of an estate.

Hyponyms

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Hyponyms of factor (noun)

Derived terms

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Terms derived from factor (noun) (some may be hyponyms)
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Terms etymologically related to factor (noun)

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked‌: "economic resource"

See also

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Other terms used in arithmetic operations:

Advanced hyperoperations: tetration, pentation, hexation

Verb

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factor (third-person singular simple present factors, present participle factoring, simple past and past participle factored)

  1. (transitive) To find all the factors of (a number or other mathematical object) (the objects that divide it evenly).
  2. (of a number or other mathematical object, intransitive) To be a product of other objects.
  3. (commercial, transitive) To sell a debt or debts to an agent (the factor) to collect.

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin factōrem.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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factor m (plural factors)

  1. doer, agent (someone who does something)
  2. factor (element, important part)
  3. (biology, mathematics) factor
  4. (railroad) porter
  5. (business, commerce) agent (someone who buys and sells on someone else's behalf)

Further reading

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Dutch

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Etymology

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From Middle Dutch factoor, from Middle French facteur, from Latin factor (“a doer, maker, performer”), from factus (“done or made”), perfect passive participle of faciō (“do, make”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈfɑk.tɔr/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: fac‧tor

Noun

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factor m (plural factoren, diminutive factortje n)

  1. a factor, element
    Een belangrijke factor voor succes is hard werken.
    A key factor for success is hard work.
  2. (mathematics) factor
    In de wiskunde kun je een getal ontbinden in factoren om het te vereenvoudigen.
    In mathematics, you can decompose a number into factors to simplify it.
  3. (obsolete) business representative

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Afrikaans: faktor
  • → Indonesian: faktor
  • → West Frisian: faktor

Latin

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Etymology

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From faciō (“to do, make”) +‎ -tor (masculine agent noun suffix).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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factor m (genitive factōris); third declension

  1. One who or which does or makes something; doer, maker, performer, perpetrator, agent, player.
    Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipoténtem, factórem cæli et terræ ― I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and earth.
  2. (sports) player, batsman

Declension

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Third-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative factor factōrēs
genitive factōris factōrum
dative factōrī factōribus
accusative factōrem factōrēs
ablative factōre factōribus
vocative factor factōrēs
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Descendants

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References

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  • “factor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • factor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • factor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • “factor”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “factor”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Portuguese

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Noun

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factor m (plural factores)

  1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of fator. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French facteur.

Noun

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factor m (plural factori)

  1. factor
  2. postal worker, postman, mailman

Declension

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singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative factor factorul factori factorii
genitive-dative factor factorului factori factorilor
vocative factorule factorilor

Spanish

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from Latin factor. Compare the inherited doublet hechor (cf. malhechor).

Noun

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factor m (plural factores)

  1. factor
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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From facto (“a trufax”), from English fact, itself from Old French fact, from Latin factum. Compare with the Internet slang interjection facts used to express agreement.

Noun

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factor m (plural factores)

  1. (Internet slang) an opinion considered a true fact; a trufax; a truth [from 2010s].
    Synonyms: hecho, (Internet slang) facto
Usage notes
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As a direct object, it's usually accompanied by the verbs soltar, decir, tirar, all meaning spill (to express) in this context.

Further reading

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Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=factor&oldid=83041275"
  NODES
Done 7
eth 4
orte 2
see 8