supervisor

English

Alternative forms

• supervisour(obsolete)

Etymology

Attested since the 15th centuryC.E.;fromMiddle Englishsupervisor,supervisour,supervysor,supervysour,fromLatinsupervīsor,fromsupervideō,in turn fromsuper+videō.

Pronunciation

• (UK)IPA^(key):/ˈsuːpəˌvaɪzə(ɹ)/,enPR:so͞op′ərvīz'ər

• Audio(Southern England):

  (file)

• (US)IPA^(key):/ˈsupɚˌvaɪzɚ/

Noun

supervisor(pluralsupervisors)

1. (management)A person with the official task ofoverseeingthe work of a person or group, or of other operations and activities.
2. A person whomonitorssomeone to make sure theycomplywith rules or other requirements set for them.
3. (US)In certain states, an elected member of thegoverningbodyfor acountywhich is called theboard of supervisors.
4. (computing)Aprocessresponsible for managing other processes.
   • 1965,P. A. Crisman,The compatible time-sharing system: a programmer's guide,page14:

     The clock burst which enables thesupervisorto housekeep the console input and output and to change program status is currently set to 200 ms.

Derived terms

• script supervisor

Related terms

• supervise
• supervisee
• supervision
• supervisory

Translations

a person with the official task of overseeing the work of a person or group etc.

• Arabic:مُشْرِفm(mušrif)
• Bulgarian:ръководител(bg)m(rǎkovoditel),надзорник(bg)(nadzornik)
• Catalan:supervisorm
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Người giám sát／Người giám sát(zh)(jiāndūzhě),Quản lý giả(zh)(guǎnlǐzhě),Chủ quản(zh)(zhǔguǎn)

• Czech:dozorce(cs)m,inspektor(cs)m,dohližitelm
• Dutch:toezichthouder(nl)m,leidinggevende(nl)
• Finnish:esimies(fi)(superior who is responsible for overseeing the work of their subordinates),valvoja(fi)(general term for anyone tasked with overseeing)
• French:superviseur(fr)m
• Galician:supervisor(gl)m
• Georgian:უფროსი(uprosi),ხელმძღვანელი(xelmʒɣvaneli),მენეჯერი(meneǯeri),ზედამხედველი(zedamxedveli),ინსპექტორი(insṗekṭori),კონტროლერი(ḳonṭroleri)
• German:Aufseher(de),Vorgesetzter(de)m
• Gothic:𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍃𐍄𐌰𐍃𐍃𐌴𐌹𐍃m(faurstasseis)
• Greek:επόπτης(el)m(epóptis)

  Ancient:ἐπόπτηςm(epóptēs),ἐπίσκοποςm(epískopos)

• Hindi:पर्यवेक्षक(paryavekṣak)
• Hungarian:munkafelügyelő(hu)
• Irish:maorm
• Italian:supervisore(it)m
• Japanese:Chủ quản(ja)(しゅかん, shukan),スーパーバイザー(sūpābaizā),Giám sát(ja),Giám sát(ja),Quản lý giả(ja),Quản lý người(ja)
• Khmer:មេការ(mee kaa)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish:چاودێر(ckb)(çawdêr)

• Miami:aahkohkinkia
• Middle English:surveyour
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:oppsynsmannm

  Nynorsk:oppsynsmannm

• Plautdietsch:Äwasechtam
• Polish:naczelnik(pl)m,nadzorca(pl)m
• Portuguese:supervisor(pt)m
• Romanian:supervizor(ro)m
• Russian:нача́льник(ru)m(načálʹnik),руководи́тель(ru)m(rukovodítelʹ),(negative connotation)надсмо́трщик(ru)m(nadsmótrščik),(negative connotation)надзира́тель(ru)m(nadzirátelʹ),(manufacturing, construction)ма́стер(ru)m(máster),суперва́йзер(ru)m(supervájzɛr)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:супервизорm,надзорникm,надгледникm,надређениm,претпостављениm

  Roman:supervizor(sh)m,nadzornik(sh)m,nadglednik(sh)m,nadređeni(sh)m,pretpostavljeni(sh)m

• Spanish:supervisor(es)m,director(es)m
• Swedish:handledare(sv)c,förman(sv)c
• Tagalog:tagamasid
• Yiddish:אויגהאַלטערm(oyghalter)

See also

• manager
• on-callsupervisor
• superintendent

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “supervisor”,inOnline Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• proviruses

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):(Central)[ˌsu.pər.biˈzo]
• IPA^(key):(Balearic)[ˌsu.pər.viˈzo]
• IPA^(key):(Valencia)[ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoɾ]

Noun

supervisorm(pluralsupervisors,femininesupervisora)

1. supervisor

Related terms

• supervisar
• supervisió

Further reading

• “supervisor”inDiccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició,Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “supervisor”,inGran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana,Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana,2024
• “supervisor”inDiccionari normatiu valencià,Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

Portuguese

Etymology

Fromsuper-+‎visor.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil)IPA^(key):/ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoʁ/[ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoh]

• (Brazil)IPA^(key):/ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoʁ/[ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoh]
  • (São Paulo)IPA^(key):/ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro)IPA^(key):/ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoʁ/[ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoχ]
  • (Southern Brazil)IPA^(key):/ˌsu.peɾ.viˈzoɻ/

• (Portugal)IPA^(key):/ˌsu.pɛɾ.viˈzoɾ/

• (Portugal)IPA^(key):/ˌsu.pɛɾ.viˈzoɾ/
  • (Northern Portugal)IPA^(key):/ˌsu.pɛɾ.biˈzoɾ/[ˌsu.pɛɾ.βiˈzoɾ]
  • (Southern Portugal)IPA^(key):/ˌsu.pɛɾ.viˈzo.ɾi/

• Hyphenation:su‧per‧vi‧sor

Noun

supervisorm(pluralsupervisores,femininesupervisora,feminine pluralsupervisoras)

1. (management)supervisor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/supeɾbiˈsoɾ/[su.peɾ.β̞iˈsoɾ]
• Rhymes:-oɾ
• Syllabification:su‧per‧vi‧sor

Noun

supervisorm(pluralsupervisores,femininesupervisora,feminine pluralsupervisoras)

1. supervisor
2. handler(e.g, a secret agent's handler)

Related terms

• supervisar
• supervisión

Further reading

• “supervisor”,inDiccionario de la lengua española(in Spanish), online version 23.7,Royal Spanish Academy,2023 November 28