prefect

English

Alternative forms

• præfect (archaic)
• praefect

Etymology

From Middle English prefect and prefecte, from Old French prefect (Mod. French préfet), from Latin praefectus (“one placed in charge, overseer, director, prefect”), from praeficere (“to place in charge”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːfɛkt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

prefect (plural prefects)

1. (historical) An official of Ancient Rome who controlled or superintended a particular command, charge, department, etc.

   the prefect of the aqueducts; the prefect of a camp, of a fleet, of the city guard, or of provisions; the pretorian prefect, who was commander of the troops guarding the emperor's person

   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 196:

     Or think of a decent young citizen in a toga - perhaps too much dice, you know - coming out here in the train of some prefect, or tax-gatherer, or trader even, to mend his fortunes.

   • 1951, Arthur Waley, The Life and Times of Po Chü-i‎^[1], London: George Allen & Unwin, →OCLC, page 33:

     It seems that in the autumn of 803 he went on leave. His uncle Po Chi-chên, had recently been moved from his post at Hsü-chou and promoted to be Prefect of Hsü-chʻang in Central Honan.

2. The head of a department in France.
3. The head of a county in Albania or Romania.
4. The head of a prefecture in Japan.
5. (British) A school pupil in a position of power over other pupils.
6. A commander.

Synonyms

• (Roman office): provost (obs.)

Related terms

• prefecture

Translations

an official of ancient Rome

• Bulgarian: префект m (prefekt)
• Finnish: prefekti (fi)
• French: préfet (fr) m
• German: Präfekt (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἔπαρχος m (éparkhos)

• Italian: prefetto (it) m
• Latin: praefectus
• Maori: piriwheke
• Portuguese: prefeito (pt) m
• Russian: префе́кт (ru) m (prefékt)

the head of a prefecture, whether a Japanese prefecture, French department, or Balkan county

• Albanian: prefekt (sq) m
• Czech: prefekt m
• Finnish: prefekti (fi)
• French: préfet (fr) m
• German: Präfekt (de) m
• Italian: prefetto (it) m
• Latin: praefectus m
• Portuguese: prefeito (pt) m
• Russian: префе́кт (ru) m (prefékt)
• Serbo-Croatian: prèfekt (sh) m

a school pupil in a position of power over other pupils

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 風紀 / 风纪 (fung¹ gei²)

  Mandarin: 級長 / 级长 (zh) (jízhǎng)

• Finnish: valvojaoppilas
• Irish: maor m
• Italian: capoclasse m
• Maori: piriwheke
• Polish: dyżurny (pl) m, dyżurna f
• Russian: ста́роста (ru) m or f (stárosta) (кла́сса)
• Welsh: swyddog (cy) m

a commander

• Italian: preposto (it) m, capo (it) m
• Latin: praepositus
• Plautdietsch: Launtsrot m
• Russian: руководи́тель (ru) m (rukovodítelʹ)

Anagrams

• perfect

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin praefectus.

Noun

prefect m (plural prefecți)

1. prefect (head of county in Romania)

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	prefect	prefectul		prefecți	prefecții
genitive-dative	prefect	prefectului		prefecți	prefecților
vocative	prefectule			prefecților