Translation
leader, commander; guide
Examples
vulneratus .
The leader of the army was wounded.
.
The leaders of the people assembled.
ductore .
They did not make the journey without a guide.
Ductorem .
They spent a long time looking for a guide.
legerunt.
They chose two leaders.
Ductor, ductoris, m., third declension, an agent noun off duco: the one who leads. Latin already had dux for that job, so ductor stays largely a poet's word - Virgil uses it of Aeneas and of the Trojan captains - and later prose picks it up for a guide or a commander where dux would sound too much like a title.
It is formed the ordinary way: take the supine stem duct-, add -or, and you have the doer. Scriptor from scribo, victor from vinco, lector from lego, all the same machine. English never borrowed ductor itself but took plenty from the stem: conduct, conductor, ductile, and the anatomist's duct, the channel that leads something somewhere.
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ductor: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Latin word "ductor" (leader, commander; guide): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 17.