LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
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“teacher” in Latin

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

teacher
doctor (one acquainted with an art or science who instructs others in it, and imparts to them elementary knowledge of it; the art or science which he teaches is expressed by a genitive or an adjective; e.g., a teacher of eloquence, doctor dicendi, doctor rhetoricus): magister (master of an art or science, as presiding with authority over learners): praeceptor (one who gives instruction or rules for the practice of a science or art; ☞ Cic., de Invent. 1, 25, in; De Or., 3, 15): paedagogus (παιδαγωγός, a slave who had the oversight of children, and gave them some elementary knowledge; Vid: Quint., 1, 1, 7, sqq.): litteratus: litterator (learned in languages, who lectured on the poets): professor (a public teacher; e.g., sapientiae; professor grammaticus): ludi magister (a schoolmaster). (The words are found in this connection and order.) magister atque doctor: praeceptor et magister: dux et magister. “Teacher” may also be expressed by circumlocution; e.g., qui doctoris partes agit; qui magistri personam sustinet; qui docere se profitetur: teacher of an art, qui profitetur aliquem artem, etc. (☞ but qui profitetur without an object, as in Plin., Ep., 2, 18, 3, is not classical): a good teacher, magister ad docendum aptus: to be a teacher of a science, aliquid docere (general term): aliquid profiteri (to be a public teacher): to be the teacher of anybody, alicujus doctorem esse (general term): *alicujus studia regere (to direct the studies of anybody; e.g., docere aliquem fidibus canere, or simply fidibus; docere aliquem equo armisque; docere aliquem Latine loqui, or simply Latine): to have anybody as a teacher, habere aliquem doctorem, magistrum, praeceptorem; uti aliquo doctore, magistro: in anything, aliquo magistro in aliqua re uti; aliquo auctore in aliqua re versari: to look for a teacher for one’s children, praeceptorem suis liberis quaerere: to put one’s self under anybody as a teacher, se dare alicui ad docendum.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for teacher?
The usual Latin words for “teacher” are doctor, magister, praeceptor; also paedagōgus, litterātus, litterātor. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.