LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · masculinethird declension

āctor

āctor m (genitive āctōris, feminine āctrīx)
Classical[ˈaːk.tɔr]Ecclesiastical[ˈak.tor]

Meaning

  1. doer, agent
  2. actor (person who performs in a theatrical play or movie)
  3. prosecutor, plaintiff, advocate, orator

In the readers how our graded readers gloss it

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Actor · Comœdus · Ludio · Histrio

The generic term actor, and the specific terms comœdus and tragœdus, denote the player, as a respectable artist; but ludio, ludius, the comedian, the player, who makes acting his trade, with the accessory notion of commonness; lastly, histrio, sometimes the actor, sometimes the comedian, but mostly with the accessory notion of buffoonery and boasting. Cic. Sext. 54. Ipse ille maxime ludius, non solum spectator, sed actor et acroama. Rosc. Com. 10. Nemo ex pessimo histrione bonum comœdum fieri posse existimaret. Ep. ad Qu. Fr. i. a. E. Hortor ut tanquam poetæ boni et actores industrii solent, in extrema parte diligentissimus sis. Suet. Aug. 74. (v. 334.)

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativeāctorāctōrēs
genitiveāctōrisāctōrum
dativeāctōrīāctōribus
accusativeāctōremāctōrēs
ablativeāctōreāctōribus
vocativeāctorāctōrēs

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

actor primarum (secundarum, tertiarum) partium
the actor who plays the leading part.

actor, ōris, m. id..
I. One who drives or moves something: pecoris actor, Ov. H. 1, 95: habenae, a slinger, Stat. Ach. 2, 419.—
II. In gen., he who does any thing, a doer or performer (cf. ago, II.).
A. In gen. of every kind of action: ut illum efficeret oratorem verborum actoremque rerum, Cic. de Or. 3, 15, 57 (a translation of the Homer. πρηκτῆρα ἔργων, Il. 9, 443): Cato dux, auctor, actor rerum illarum fuit, id. Sest. 28 fin.; so Caes. B. C. 1, 26; Nep. Att. 3, 2 al.—
B. In judicial lang., one who brings an action, a plaintiff: accusatorem pro omni actore et petitore appello, Cic. Part. 32; esp. of lawyers: Moloni Rhodio et actori summo causarum et magistro, id. Brut. 89 fin.; so Hor. A. P. 369 al.—Also, one who conducts a suit, an advocate, Cic. Caec. 1.—Hence,
C. At a later period, an agent or attorney; in gen., an administrator or manager or steward, overseer of property or an estate.—So in Tac.: actor publicus, he who administers the public property, Ann. 2, 30; 3, 67: actor summarum, a keeper of accounts or cashier, Suet. Dom. 11, and so often in the Dig.: sub actoribus, overseers (of a household), Vulg. Gal. 4, 2.—
D. In rhetor. lang., one who delivers any oral discourse; and esp. one who delivers an oration, an orator: inventor, compositor, actor, Cic. Or. 19.—
2. A player, an actor: actores secundarum et tertiarum partium, Cic. Div. in Caecil. 15; so id. de Or. 1, 26; id. Q. Fr. 1, 1, 16 (cf. ago, II., and actio, II. C.).
Actor, ŏris, m.
I. A companion of Aeneas, Verg. A. 9, 500.—
II. An Auruncan, ib. 12, 94; 96.—Hence, Actŏ-rĭdes, ae, patron. m., son or grandson of Actor: his son, Menoetius, Ov. F. 2, 39; his grandson, Patroclus, Ov. Tr. 1, 9, 29; id. M. 13, 273; Erithos, id. ib. 5, 79.—In plur.: Actŏrĭdae, i. e. Eurytus and Cleatus, sons of Actor, King of Phthia, id. ib. 8, 308.

Origins

Agent noun formed from āctus + -tor, perfect passive participle of agō (“do, act, make”).

Descendants
  • Catalanactor
  • Englishactorfrom Middle English actour
  • Italianattore
  • Frenchacteurfrom Middle French acteur
  • Occitanactor
  • Portugueseatorfrom Old Galician-Portuguese abtor
  • Romanianactor
  • Spanishactor
  • Asturianactor
  • Scottish Gaelicactairfrom Middle English actour

In the Academy Smith's classical dictionaries

AntiquitiesActorActor generally means a plaintiff in a civil action, but is sometimes used for a prosecutor in a public or criminal trial. The plaintiff in a civil ac…

Quick answers

What does āctor mean in Latin?
āctor, a noun, means “doer, agent; actor (person who performs in a theatrical play or movie); prosecutor, plaintiff, advocate, orator”.
What is the genitive of āctor?
The genitive singular is āctōris. āctor is masculine, third declension.
How do you pronounce āctor?
In classical Latin, [ˈaːk.tɔr]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈak.tor].