developer

English

Alternative forms

• dev (clipping)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

▲

Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu.

Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is-

Proto-Italic *dis-

Latin dis-

Old French des-

Proto-Indo-European *werb-der.

Proto-Germanic *wrappan-der.

Vulgar Latin *vlopp-der.

Old French veloper

Middle French desveloper

French développerbor.

English develop

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

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 developer

From develop + -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈvɛləpə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /dɪˈvɛləpɚ/
  • (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /dəˈvɛləpɚ/
• Hyphenation: de‧vel‧op‧er

Noun

developer (plural developers)

1. A person or entity engaged in the creation or improvement of certain classes of products.
2. A real estate developer; a person or company who prepares a parcel of land for sale, or creates structures on that land.
   • 2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “After Fukushima, Japan beginning to see the light in solar energy”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[1], volume 189, number 2, archived from the original on 26 October 2026, page 30:

     Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."

   • 2026 April 23, Jonathan Chait, “The Posting Will Continue Until Morale Improves”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic‎^[2], Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 April 2026:

     [Donald Trump] would repeat this point three more times over the course of several hours, as if pleading with his counterparties to see fiscal reason. (Religious fanatics, alas, do not always respond to the same incentives as New York developers.)

3. A film developer; a person who uses chemicals to create photographs from photograph negatives.
4. A liquid used in the chemical processing of traditional photos.
5. (dyeing) A reagent used to produce an ingrain color by its action upon some substance on the fiber.
7. (computing) A software developer; a person or company who creates or modifies computer software.

   Coordinate terms: programmer (broadly synonymous), software engineer (broadly synonymous); designer; software architect

   • 2025 March 14, Andrew Van Dam, “Department of Data: More than a quarter of computer-programming jobs just vanished. What happened? Learning to code was supposedly the salvation of millions of liberal art majors. But now programming jobs are plummeting. The Post’s Department of Data tries to figure out what’s going on”, in The Washington Post‎^[3], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 July 2025:

     More important, when we looked at who worked in that industry, we noticed that programmers were in the minority. They’re dwarfed by, among other occupations, the software developers. The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but the jobs follow very different trajectories. Nationwide, software developers haven’t struggled nearly as much as their programming brethren — few other computer-related occupations have. So what makes programmers different? To answer that, we need to dive forehead first into everybody’s favorite part of any analysis: arcane occupation definitions! Upon perusing the fine print, we saw that while programmers do in fact program, they “work from specifications drawn up by software and web developers or other individuals.” That seems like a clue. In the real world, “developer” and “programmer” can seem almost interchangeable. But in the world of government statistics, where we have legal permanent residency, there’s a clear distinction. In the [US] government’s schema, programmers do the grunt work while the much more numerous — and much faster-growing — software developers enjoy a broader remit. They figure out what clients need, design solutions and work with folks such as programmers and hardware engineers to implement them. Their pay reflects this gap in responsibilities. The median programmer earned $99,700 in 2023, compared with $132,270 for the median developer. And while 27.5 percent of programming jobs vanished, jobs for developers have only fallen 0.3 percent, similar to the broader industry.

Derived terms

• codeveloper
• developer exit
• developer experience
• developer program
• interdeveloper
• megadeveloper
• predeveloper
• web developer

Related terms

• develop
• development
• developmental

Translations

someone engaged in product creation and improvement

• Albanian: zhvillues (sq) m, zhvilluese f
• Bulgarian: разрабо́тчик m (razrabótčik)
• Catalan: desenvolupador m, desenvolupadora f
• Danish: udvikler c
• Dutch: ontwikkelaar (nl) m, ontwerper (nl) m
• Finnish: kehittäjä (fi), tuotekehittäjä, devaaja (fi)
• French: concepteur (fr) m, développeur (fr) m, créateur (fr) m
• German: Entwickler (de) m, Entwicklerin (de) f
• Hebrew: מְפַתֵּחַ (he) m (mefatéakh)
• Hindi: विकासक m (vikāsak)
• Hungarian: fejlesztő (hu)
• Italian: sviluppatore (it) m, sviluppatrice (it) f
• Māori: kaiwhakawhanake
• Portuguese: desenvolvedor (pt), desenvolvedora (pt) f
• Romanian: creator (ro) m, dezvoltator m
• Russian: разрабо́тчик (ru) m (razrabótčik), разрабо́тчица (ru) m (razrabótčica)
• Spanish: desarrollador m
• Swedish: utvecklare (sv) c
• Tamil: மேம்பாட்டாளர் (mēmpāṭṭāḷar)
• Turkish: geliştirici (tr)
• Ukrainian: розро́бник m (rozróbnyk), розро́бниця f (rozróbnycja)
• Vietnamese: nhà phát triển
• Zhuang: bouxhaifat

real estate developer

• Armenian: կառուցապատող (kaṙucʻapatoġ)
• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Czech: developer (cs) m
• Dutch: promotor (nl) m, projectontwikkelaar (nl) m
• Estonian: arendaja
• Finnish: rakennuttaja (fi), kiinteistönkehittäjä
• French: promoteur (fr)
• German: Projektentwickler m, Bauunternehmer (de) m
• Hebrew: קַבְּלָן (he) m (kablán), יַזָּם (he) m (yazám)
• Hungarian: fejlesztő (hu)
• Indonesian: developer (id), pengembang (id)
• Italian: sviluppatore (it) m
• Malay: ڤماجو (pemaju), pemaju
• Polish: deweloper (pl) m
• Romanian: constructor (ro) m
• Russian: застро́йщик (ru) m (zastrójščik), деве́лопер (ru) (devéloper)
• Spanish: promotor (es) m, constructor (es) m
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: забудо́вник m (zabudóvnyk), деве́лопер m (devéloper)

film developer

• Dutch: ontwikkelaar (nl) m
• Finnish: (filmin) kehittäjä
• French: révélateur (fr) m
• German: Entwickler (de) m
• Hungarian: előhívó (hu)
• Italian: sviluppatore (it) m
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: فیلْم‌ساز (film-sâz)

• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: film banyosu ilacı
• Yiddish: אַנטוויקלער m (antvikler)

liquid used in chemical film processing

• Bulgarian: прояви́тел m (projavítel)
• Catalan: revelador m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 顯影劑 / 显影剂 (zh) (xiǎnyǐngjì)

• Czech: vývojka (cs) f
• Dutch: ontwikkelaar (nl) m
• Finnish: kehitin (fi)
• French: développateur (fr) m
• Galician: revelador m
• German: Entwickler (de) m
• Hungarian: előhívó (hu)
• Italian: liquido per sviluppare m, sviluppatore (it) m
• Japanese: 現像液 (ja) (げんぞうえき, genzōeki)
• Korean: 현상액(現像液) (hyeonsang'aek)
• Polish: wywoływacz m
• Portuguese: revelador m
• Romanian: developator (ro) m, revelator (ro) m
• Russian: прояви́тель (ru) m (projavítelʹ)
• Slovak: vývojka f
• Spanish: revelador (es) m
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: developman maddesi

software programmer

• Arabic: مُطَوِّر m (muṭawwir)
• Armenian: մշակող (mšakoġ)
• Azerbaijani: developer, inkişafçı
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: распрацо́ўшчык m (raspracówščyk), распрацо́ўшчыца f (raspracówščyca)
• Bengali: নির্মাতা (bn) (nirmata), ডেভেলপার (ḍebhelpar)
• Bulgarian: програми́ст m (programíst), програми́стка f (programístka), разрабо́тчик m (razrabótčik)
• Burmese: ဖန်တီးသူ (hpanti:su)
• Catalan: desenvolupador m, desenvolupadora f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 開發人員 / 开发人员 (zh) (kāifā rényuán), 程序員 / 程序员 (zh) (chéngxùyuán)

• Czech: vývojář (cs) m, vývojářka f
• Danish: udvikler c, programmør c
• Dutch: (-analist) programmeur (nl) m, ontwikkelaar (nl) m
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: arendaja
• Finnish: kehittäjä (fi), ohjelmoija (fi), devaaja (fi)
• French: (-analyste) programmeur (fr) m, développeur (fr) m
• Galician: desenvolvedor (gl) m, desenvolvedora f
• Georgian: პროგრამისტი (ṗrogramisṭi), დეველოპერი (develoṗeri), შემქმნელი (šemkmneli)
• German: Entwickler (de) m, Entwicklerin (de) f
• Hebrew: מְפַתֵּחַ (he) m (mefatéakh)
• Hindi: डेवलपर m (ḍevalpar)
• Hungarian: fejlesztő (hu)
• Italian: sviluppatore (it) m, sviluppatrice (it) f, sviluppatore di software m
• Japanese: プログラマー (ja) (puroguramā), 開発者 (ja) (かいはつしゃ, kaihatsusha)
• Khmer: អ្នកអភិវឌ្ឍន៍ (nĕək ʼaʼphivŏət)
• Korean: 프로그래머 (peurogeuraemeo), 개발자(開發者) (gaebalja)
• Lao: ນັກພັດທະນາ (nak phat tha nā)
• Latvian: izstrādātājs m, izstrādātāja f, izstrādātāji m pl, izstrādātājas f pl
• Lithuanian: kūrėjas m, kūrėja f
• Macedonian: развивач m (razvivač), развивачка f (razvivačka)
• Malay: pembangun, pembangun perisian
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: utvikler m

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: سازَنْدِه (fa) (sâzande), تُولیدْکُنَنْدِه (fa) (towlidkonande)

• Polish: programista (pl) m, programistka (pl) f, deweloper (pl) m
• Portuguese: desenvolvedor (pt) m, desenvolvedora (pt) f
• Romanian: developer (ro) m, programator (ro) m
• Russian: программи́ст (ru) m (programmíst), программи́стка (ru) f (programmístka), разрабо́тчик (ru) m (razrabótčik), разрабо́тчица (ru) f (razrabótčica)
• Sanskrit: व्युत्पादक (sa) m (vyutpādaka), व्युत्पादका f (vyutpādakā)
• Slovak: vývojár m, vývojárka f
• Spanish: desarrollador m, desarrolladora f (person), desarrolladora f (company), programador de software m
• Swedish: mjukvaruutvecklare (sv) c, utvecklare (sv) c
• Tajik: тавлидкунанда (tavlidkunanda), тавсеадиҳанда (tavseadihanda)
• Tamil: மென்பொருள் மேம்பாட்டாளர் (meṉporuḷ mēmpāṭṭāḷar)
• Thai: นักพัฒนา (nák-pát-tá-naa)
• Turkish: yazılım uzmanı, geliştirici (tr)
• Ukrainian: розро́бник m (rozróbnyk), розро́бниця f (rozróbnycja)
• Vietnamese: nhà phát triển phần mềm

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

• French: ^{(please verify)} promoteur (fr) m

Anagrams

• redevelop

Czech

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

▲

Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu.

Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is-

Proto-Italic *dis-

Latin dis-

Old French des-

Proto-Indo-European *werb-der.

Proto-Germanic *wrappan-der.

Vulgar Latin *vlopp-der.

Old French veloper

Middle French desveloper

French développerbor.

English develop

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

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 developerder.

Czech developer

Derived from English developer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈdɛvɛlopɛr]

Noun

developer m anim (female equivalent developerka)

1. developer (real estate developer)

Declension

Declension of developer (hard masculine animate)

	singular	plural
nominative	developer	developeři
genitive	developera	developerů
dative	developerovi, developeru	developerům
accusative	developera	developery
vocative	developere	developeři
locative	developerovi, developeru	developerech
instrumental	developerem	developery

Further reading

• “developer”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Danish

Etymology

From English developer.

Noun

developer c (singular definite developeren, plural indefinite developere)

1. developer

   Synonym: udvikler

References

• “developer” in Den Danske Ordbog

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from English developer.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /dəvəˈlopər/ [də.fəˈlo.pər]
• Rhymes: -opər
• Syllabification: de‧ve‧lo‧per

Noun

dêvêloper (plural developer-developer or para developer)

1. developer
   1. a person or entity engaged in the creation or improvement of certain classes of products.
   2. a real estate developer; a person or company who prepares a parcel of land for sale, or creates structures on that land.

      Synonyms: binawan, pemaju (Malay), pengembang

   3. a film developer; a person who uses chemicals to create photographs from photograph negatives.
   4. a liquid used in the chemical processing of traditional photos.
   5. (dyeing) a reagent used to produce an ingrain color by its action upon some substance on the fiber.
   6. (computing) a software developer; a person or company who creates or modifies computer software.

      Synonyms: pemaju (Malay), pengembang

Derived terms

• developer gim

Further reading

• “developer”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

▲

Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu.

Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is-

Proto-Italic *dis-

Latin dis-

Old French des-

Proto-Indo-European *werb-der.

Proto-Germanic *wrappan-der.

Vulgar Latin *vlopp-der.

Old French veloper

Middle French desveloper

French développerbor.

English develop

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

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 developerubor.

Portuguese developer

Unadapted borrowing from English developer.

Noun

developer m or f by sense (plural developers)

1. developer (software programmer)

   Synonyms: desenvolvedor, programador, creador

Turkish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

▲

Proto-Indo-European *trísinflu.

Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is-

Proto-Italic *dis-

Latin dis-

Old French des-

Proto-Indo-European *werb-der.

Proto-Germanic *wrappan-der.

Vulgar Latin *vlopp-der.

Old French veloper

Middle French desveloper

French développerbor.

English develop

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-os?

Proto-Indo-European *-o-

Proto-Indo-European *-so-

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂so-

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 developerubor.

Turkish developer

Unadapted borrowing from English developer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de.veˈlo.pɯɾ/
• Hyphenation: de‧ve‧lo‧per

Noun

developer (definite accusative developerı, plural developerlar)

1. developer

Declension

Declension of developer

singular plural nominative developer developerlar definite accusative developerı developerları dative developera developerlara locative developerda developerlarda ablative developerdan developerlardan genitive developerın developerların Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular developerım developerlarım 2nd singular developerın developerların 3rd singular developerı developerları 1st plural developerımız developerlarımız 2nd plural developerınız developerlarınız 3rd plural developerları developerları definite accusative singular plural 1st singular developerımı developerlarımı 2nd singular developerını developerlarını 3rd singular developerını developerlarını 1st plural developerımızı developerlarımızı 2nd plural developerınızı developerlarınızı 3rd plural developerlarını developerlarını dative singular plural 1st singular developerıma developerlarıma 2nd singular developerına developerlarına 3rd singular developerına developerlarına 1st plural developerımıza developerlarımıza 2nd plural developerınıza developerlarınıza 3rd plural developerlarına developerlarına locative singular plural 1st singular developerımda developerlarımda 2nd singular developerında developerlarında 3rd singular developerında developerlarında 1st plural developerımızda developerlarımızda 2nd plural developerınızda developerlarınızda 3rd plural developerlarında developerlarında ablative singular plural 1st singular developerımdan developerlarımdan 2nd singular developerından developerlarından 3rd singular developerından developerlarından 1st plural developerımızdan developerlarımızdan 2nd plural developerınızdan developerlarınızdan 3rd plural developerlarından developerlarından genitive singular plural 1st singular developerımın developerlarımın 2nd singular developerının developerlarının 3rd singular developerının developerlarının 1st plural developerımızın developerlarımızın 2nd plural developerınızın developerlarınızın 3rd plural developerlarının developerlarının Predicative forms singular plural 1st singular developerım developerlarım 2nd singular developersın developerlarsın 3rd singular developer developerdır developerlar developerlardır 1st plural developerız developerlarız 2nd plural developersınız developerlarsınız 3rd plural developerlar developerlardır

Further reading

• “developer”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu