simulator

See also: Simulator and simulátor

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English simulate

Proto-Indo-European *-tōr

Proto-Italic *-tōr

Latin -tor

Latin -ātor

Old French -eorbor.

Middle English -our

▲

Latin -torlbor.

English -or

English simulator

From simulate + -or.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪmjʊˌleɪtə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪmjəˌleɪtɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

simulator (plural simulators)

1. One who simulates or feigns.
   • 1858, Thomas De Quincey, “Schlosser's Literary History of the Eighteenth Century”, in De Quincey's works, page 82:

     Even confessing to a crime, the man may be mad, or a knavish simulator.

2. A machine or system that simulates an environment (such as an aircraft cockpit), often for training purposes.
   • 1947 February 21, “Instruments Are Released From Rocket By Parachute in a Jump of 68 Miles”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 9 April 2026:

     The dummy rocket is being developed to permit the ground testing of missile controls. By the use of this “flight simulator” the control devices of missiles can be subjected to operational tests on the ground, thus reducing the need for expensive flight tests.

   • 2007 February 20, Tina Kelley, “A Wet Wind Tunnel So Ships Can Move Faster and Better”, in The New York Times‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 December 2022:

     A wave simulator in the tank can re-enact tsunamis and northeasters, and imitate wave conditions from midocean.

   • 2020 March 11, “Network News: Driver training on Trafford Park line”, in Rail, page 15:

     Classroom sessions for drivers are under way, with each driver requiring a full day on the simulator before they then test a tram on the £350 million new line.

3. (video games) A game that attempts to reproduce an experience realistically.

   a pinball simulator

   • 2007, David Lester, How They Started:

     While writing for Mastertronic, David had seen that sales figures were much better for 'simulators' compared to less realistic games […]

Derived terms

• city simulator
• dating simulator
• Hoffman simulator
• murder simulator
• simulator sickness
• space simulator
• walking simulator

Related terms

• simulation

Translations

One who simulates or feigns

• Bulgarian: симулант (bg) m (simulant)
• Polish: symulant (pl) m, symulantka f

machine or system

• Belarusian: сімулятар (simuljatar)
• Bulgarian: симулатор m (simulator)
• Catalan: simulador (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 模拟器 (zh) (mónǐqì)

• Czech: trenažér (cs) m, simulátor m
• Esperanto: simulilo
• Estonian: simulaator (et)
• Finnish: simulaattori (fi)
• French: simulateur (fr) m
• German: Simulator (de) m
• Greek: προσομοιωτής (el) (prosomoiotís)
• Hungarian: szimulátor (hu)
• Italian: simulatore (it) m
• Japanese: シミュレーター (ja) (shimyurētā)
• Malay: penyelaku
• Polish: symulator (pl) m, imitator (pl) m, trenażer (pl) m
• Portuguese: simulador m
• Russian: симулятор (ru) (simuljator), тренажёр (ru) (trenažór)
• Spanish: simulador (es) m
• Ukrainian: тренажер (trenažer), симулятор m (symuljator)

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sem-

Proto-Indo-European *sem-h₂-lo-

Proto-Italic *semalis

Latin similis

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin simulō

Proto-Indo-European *-tōr

Proto-Italic *-tōr

Latin -tor

Latin simulātor

From simulō + -tor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [sɪ.mʊˈɫaː.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [si.muˈlaː.tor]

Noun

simulātor m (genitive simulātōris); third declension

1. copier, imitator
2. hypocrite, pretender, phoney

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	simulātor	simulātōrēs
genitive	simulātōris	simulātōrum
dative	simulātōrī	simulātōribus
accusative	simulātōrem	simulātōrēs
ablative	simulātōre	simulātōribus
vocative	simulātor	simulātōrēs

Descendants

• → Catalan: simulador
• → French: simulateur
• → Galician: simulador
• → Italian: simulatore
• → Occitan: simulador
• → Portuguese: simulador
• → Romanian: simulator
• → Spanish: simulador

Verb

simulātor

1. second/third-person singular future passive imperative of simulō

References

• “simulator”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “simulator”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “simulator”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French simulateur. By surface analysis, simula + -tor.

Noun

simulator n (plural simulatoare)

1. simulator

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	simulator	simulatorul	simulatoare	simulatoarele
genitive-dative	simulator	simulatorului	simulatoare	simulatoarelor
vocative	simulatorule		simulatoarelor

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /simǔlaːtor/
• Hyphenation: si‧mu‧la‧tor

Noun

simùlātor m inan (Cyrillic spelling симу̀ла̄тор)

1. simulator

Declension

Declension of simulator

	singular	plural
nominative	simulator	simulatori
genitive	simulatora	simulatora
dative	simulatoru	simulatorima
accusative	simulator	simulatore
vocative	simulatoru	simulatori
locative	simulatoru	simulatorima
instrumental	simulatorom	simulatorima