composter

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English compost

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂s(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-āsijos

Proto-Italic *-āsios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

▲

Latin -ārius

Old French -ierbor.

Middle English -er

English -er

English composter

From compost + -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmpɒstə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kɑmˈpoʊstɚ/

Noun

composter (plural composters)

1. A person or business that composts waste
   • 2007 October 10, J. Michael Kennedy, “Seattle’s Recycling Success Is Being Measured in Scraps”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 7 December 2025:

     The company, the major composter in this area, will soon have much more trash coming its way because Seattle is making food waste yet another mandatory recycling ingredient in its already long list.

2. A container for producing compost.
   • 2009 February 19, Tim Mckeough, “All Shades of Green”, in The New York Times‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 November 2022:

     Ms. Fehrenbacher also liked the NatureMill, a small indoor composter made of recycled and recyclable polypropylene that converts food waste into fertilizer for houseplants and gardens.

Translations

person or business

• Finnish: kompostoija
• Polish: kompostownia f

container

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 堆肥箱 (duīféixiāng)

• Czech: kompostér (cs) m
• Finnish: kompostori (fi)
• French: composteur (fr) m
• Polish: kompostownik (pl) m

Anagrams

• recompost

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.pɔs.te/

  • Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

    (file)

  • Audio (France (Vosges)):

    (file)

  • Audio (France (Lyon)):

    (file)

  • Audio (France (Somain)):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -e
• Hyphenation: com‧pos‧ter

Etymology 1

From composteur +‎ -er.

Verb

composter

1. (transitive) to stamp or punch (a ticket) to validate it before boarding a train or a bus

Etymology 2

From compost +‎ -er.

Verb

composter

1. (transitive) to create compost using biodegradable materials
2. (transitive) to add compost to the ground

Conjugation

Conjugation of composter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	composter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	compostant /kɔ̃.pɔs.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		composté /kɔ̃.pɔs.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	composte /kɔ̃.pɔst/	compostes /kɔ̃.pɔst/	composte /kɔ̃.pɔst/	compostons /kɔ̃.pɔs.tɔ̃/	compostez /kɔ̃.pɔs.te/	compostent /kɔ̃.pɔst/
	imperfect	compostais /kɔ̃.pɔs.tɛ/	compostais /kɔ̃.pɔs.tɛ/	compostait /kɔ̃.pɔs.tɛ/	compostions /kɔ̃.pɔs.tjɔ̃/	compostiez /kɔ̃.pɔs.tje/	compostaient /kɔ̃.pɔs.tɛ/
	past historic2	compostai /kɔ̃.pɔs.te/	compostas /kɔ̃.pɔs.ta/	composta /kɔ̃.pɔs.ta/	compostâmes /kɔ̃.pɔs.tam/	compostâtes /kɔ̃.pɔs.tat/	compostèrent /kɔ̃.pɔs.tɛʁ/
	future	composterai /kɔ̃.pɔs.tə.ʁe/	composteras /kɔ̃.pɔs.tə.ʁa/	compostera /kɔ̃.pɔs.tə.ʁa/	composterons /kɔ̃.pɔs.tə.ʁɔ̃/	composterez /kɔ̃.pɔs.tə.ʁe/	composteront /kɔ̃.pɔs.tə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	composterais /kɔ̃.pɔs.tə.ʁɛ/	composterais /kɔ̃.pɔs.tə.ʁɛ/	composterait /kɔ̃.pɔs.tə.ʁɛ/	composterions /kɔ̃.pɔs.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	composteriez /kɔ̃.pɔs.tə.ʁje/	composteraient /kɔ̃.pɔs.tə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	composte /kɔ̃.pɔst/	compostes /kɔ̃.pɔst/	composte /kɔ̃.pɔst/	compostions /kɔ̃.pɔs.tjɔ̃/	compostiez /kɔ̃.pɔs.tje/	compostent /kɔ̃.pɔst/
	imperfect2	compostasse /kɔ̃.pɔs.tas/	compostasses /kɔ̃.pɔs.tas/	compostât /kɔ̃.pɔs.ta/	compostassions /kɔ̃.pɔs.ta.sjɔ̃/	compostassiez /kɔ̃.pɔs.ta.sje/	compostassent /kɔ̃.pɔs.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	composte /kɔ̃.pɔst/	—	compostons /kɔ̃.pɔs.tɔ̃/	compostez /kɔ̃.pɔs.te/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• compostable
• compostage
• composteur

Descendants

• → German: kompostieren

Further reading

• “composter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• comportes, comportés