factor

English Online Dictionary. What means factor‎? What does factor mean?

English

Alternative forms

• factour (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle French facteur, from Latin factor (“a doer, maker, performer”), from factus (“done or made”), perfect passive participle of faciō (“do, make”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfæk.tə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfæk.tɚ/
• Hyphenation: fact‧or
• Rhymes: -æktə(ɹ)

Noun

factor (plural factors)

1. (obsolete) A doer, maker; a person who does things for another person or organization.

2. An agent or representative.
3. (law)
   1. A commission agent.
   2. A person or business organization that provides money for another's new business venture; one who finances another's business.
   3. A business organization that lends money on accounts receivable or buys and collects accounts receivable.
5. One of the elements, circumstances, or influences which contribute to produce a result.
   • 1864-1898, Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology

6. (mathematics) Any of various objects multiplied together to form some whole.
7. (causal analysis) Influence; a phenomenon that affects the nature, the magnitude, and/or the timing of a consequence.
8. (economics) A resource used in the production of goods or services, a factor of production.
9. (Scotland) A steward or bailiff of an estate.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

Other terms used in arithmetic operations:

Advanced hyperoperations: tetration, pentation, hexation

Verb

factor (third-person singular simple present factors, present participle factoring, simple past and past participle factored)

1. (transitive) To find all the factors of (a number or other mathematical object) (the objects that divide it evenly).
2. (of a number or other mathematical object, intransitive) To be a product of other objects.
3. (commercial, transitive) To sell a debt or debts to an agent (the factor) to collect.

Derived terms

• factor in
• factor out
• refactor

Translations

See also

• addition, summation: (augend) + (addend) = (summand) × (summand) = (sum, total)
• subtraction: (minuend) − (subtrahend) = (difference)
• multiplication: (multiplier) × (multiplicand) = (factor) × (factor) = (product)
• division: (dividend) ÷ (divisor) = (quotient), remainder left over if divisor does not divide dividend

Further reading

• “factor”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “factor”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin factōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [fəkˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [fakˈtoɾ]

Noun

factor m (plural factors)

1. doer, agent (someone who does something)
2. factor (element, important part)
3. (biology, mathematics) factor
4. (railroad) porter
5. (business, commerce) agent (someone who buys and sells on someone else's behalf)

Further reading

• “factor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch factoor, from Middle French facteur, from Latin factor (“a doer, maker, performer”), from factus (“done or made”), perfect passive participle of faciō (“do, make”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɑk.tɔr/
• Hyphenation: fac‧tor

Noun

factor m (plural factoren, diminutive factortje n)

1. a factor, element

2. (mathematics) factor

3. (obsolete) business representative

Derived terms

Descendants

• Afrikaans: faktor
• → Indonesian: faktor
• → West Frisian: faktor

Latin

Etymology

From faciō (“to do, make”) +‎ -tor (masculine agent noun suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfak.tor/, [ˈfäkt̪ɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfak.tor/, [ˈfäkt̪or]

Noun

factor m (genitive factōris); third declension

1. One who or which does or makes something; doer, maker, performer, perpetrator, agent, player.

   Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipoténtem, factórem cæli et terræ ― I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and earth.

2. (sports) player, batsman

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Related terms

• factus
• factura

Descendants

References

• “factor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• factor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• factor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “factor”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “factor”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Portuguese

Noun

factor m (plural factores)

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of fator. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French facteur.

Noun

factor m (plural factori)

1. factor
2. postal worker, postman, mailman

Declension

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faɡˈtoɾ/ [faɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: fac‧tor

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin factor. Compare the inherited doublet hechor (cf. malhechor).

Noun

factor m (plural factores)

1. factor

Derived terms

Related terms

Etymology 2

From facto (“a trufax”), from English fact, itself from Old French fact, from Latin factum. Compare with the Internet slang interjection facts used to express agreement.

Noun

factor m (plural factores)

1. (Internet slang) an opinion considered a true fact; a trufax; a truth [from 2010s].

   Synonyms: hecho, (Internet slang) facto

Usage notes

As a direct object, it's usually accompanied by the verbs soltar, decir, tirar, all meaning spill (to express) in this context.

Further reading

• “factor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10