persecutor

English

Alternative forms

• persecutour (obsolete)
• persecuter (rare)

Etymology

From Middle English persecutour, from Old French persecutor and Latin persecūtor. Displaced native Old English ēhtere.

Noun

persecutor (plural persecutors)

1. A person or thing that persecutes or harasses.

   Live a persecutor, likely die a persecutor.

Derived terms

• persecutress

Translations

a person or thing that persecutes

• Finnish: vainooja (fi)
• Macedonian: прого́нувач m (progónuvač), прого́нител m (progónitel)
• Old English: ēhtere
• Plautdietsch: Vefolja m
• Polish: prześladowca (pl) m, prześladowczyni f
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can

Latin

Etymology

From persequor, persecutus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [pɛr.sɛˈkuː.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [per.seˈkuː.tor]

Noun

persecūtor m (genitive persecūtōris); third declension

1. pursuer

   de mortibus persecutorum.

   On the Deaths of the Persecutors. (Book by Lactantius)

2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) persecutor of Christians

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	persecūtor	persecūtōrēs
genitive	persecūtōris	persecūtōrum
dative	persecūtōrī	persecūtōribus
accusative	persecūtōrem	persecūtōrēs
ablative	persecūtōre	persecūtōribus
vocative	persecūtor	persecūtōrēs

Related terms

• persector

Descendants

• English: persecutor, persecute
• French: persécuteur
• Italian: persecutore
• Spanish: persecutor

References

• “persecutor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “persecutor”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French persécuteur.

Noun

persecutor m (plural persecutori)

1. persecutor

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	persecutor	persecutorul	persecutori	persecutorii
genitive-dative	persecutor	persecutorului	persecutori	persecutorilor
vocative	persecutorule		persecutorilor

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *per-der.

Proto-Italic *per(i)-

Latin per-

Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ-

Proto-Indo-European *sékʷetor

Proto-Italic *sekʷōr

Latin sequor

Latin persecutus

Ecclesiastical Latin persecutorlbor.

Spanish persecutor

Learned borrowing from Ecclesiastical Latin persecutor, from Latin persecutus.

Noun

persecutor m (plural persecutores)

1. persecutor

Further reading

• “persecutor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026