printer

English

WOTD – 3 February 2018

Etymology

A printer (sense 2) in Leipzig, East Germany, inking a roller

A Lexmark X5100 printer (sense 3), which is connected to a computer to print text or images

From print +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɪntə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɪn(t)ɚ/, [ˈpʰɹɪɾ̃ɚ]

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪntə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: print‧er

Noun

printer (plural printers)

1. One who makes prints.
   • 1922, Basil Stewart, “How Colour-prints were Produced”, in Subjects Portrayed in Japanese Colour-prints: A Collector’s Guide to All the Subjects Illustrated including an Exhaustive Account of the Chushingura and other Famous Plays, together with a Causerie on the Japanese Theater, New York, N.Y.: E. P. Dutton, →OCLC; republished as A Guide to Japanese Prints and Their Subject Matter, New York, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 1979, →ISBN, page 8:

     Old Japanese colour-prints are printed on a sheet of mulberry-bark paper, and are the product of three different craftsmen: the artist who drew the original design, the block-maker or engraver who transferred the design to the wood, and the printer.

2. (printing) The operator of a printing press or the owner of a printing business; (metonymically) any printing business.
   • 1545 July 2, Thomas Elyot, A Preservative agaynste Deth, Imprinted at London in Fletestrete: By Thomas Berthelet, printer to the kynges highnes, →OCLC, colophon:

     IMPRINTED at London in Fleteſtrete by Thomas Berthelet, printer to the kynges highnes, the ſeconde of July, the yere of our lorde. M. DXLV. Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum ſolum.

   • 1637 July 11, John Rushworth, “[Appendix.] A Decree of Star-Chamber Concerning Printing, Made the Eleventh Day of July Last Past, 1637”, in Historical Collections. The Second Volume of the Second Part, Containing the Principal Matters which Happened from March 26. 1639, until the Summoning of a Parliament, which Met at Westminster, April 13, 1640. With an Account of the Proceedings of that Parliament; and the Transactions and Affairs from that Time, until the Meeting of Another Parliament, November the 3d following. With Some Remarkable Passages therein during the First Six Months. Impartially Related, and Disposed within Annals. Setting forth only Matter of Fact in Order of Time, without Observation or Reflection, London: Printed by M. Wotton at the Three Pigeons against the Inner-Temple-Gate in Fleetstreet, and G. Conyers at the Golden Ring on Ludgate-Hill, published 1686, →OCLC, item XIX, pages 311–312:

     The Court doth Declare, as formerly ſo now, That no Apprentices be taken into any Printing-houſe, otherwiſe than according to this Proportion following, (viz.) ever Maſter Printer that is, or hath been Maſter or Upper Warden of his Company, may have three Apprentices at one time and no more, and every Maſter-Printer that is of the Livery of his Company, may have two Apprentices at one time and no more, […]

   • 1824, J[ohn] Johnson, “The Origin, Rise, and Progress of the Typographic Art”, in Typographia, or The Printers’ Instructor: Including an Account of the Origin of Printing, with Biographical Notices of the Printers of England, from Caxton to the Close of the Sixteenth Century: A Series of Ancient and Modern Alphabets, and Domesday Characters: Together with an Elucidation of Every Subject Connected with the Art, volume I, London: Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, Paternoster Row, London, →OCLC, pages 4–5:

     […] Pecuniary motives induced the first printers (from the large sums which were usually paid for manuscripts) to sell their works as such; so that printing was, for a period, as much the counterfeit as the substitute for writing, it being a facsimile of the most approved Scribes.

   • 2021 November 3, Adrian Shooter talks to Paul Clifton, “A lifetime of railway achievements”, in RAIL, number 943, page 34:

     Never one to waste an opportunity, he says now: "The low points? You can read about them in my forthcoming book! It's at the printers now.

4. (computer hardware) A device, usually attached to a computer, used to print text or images onto paper; an analogous device capable of producing three-dimensional objects.
   • 1872 February 24, “Telegraph Instruments”, in The Mechanics’ Magazine and Journal of Science, Arts, and Manufactures, volume XCVI, London: Mechanics' Magazine Offices, 166, Fleet Street, and 85, Gracechurch Street, E.C., →OCLC, page 172, column 1:

     The use of the Hughes type printer is extending on the main circuits, where speed of transmission is a great object; but it is highly improbable that it will ever be adopted, except on main circuits.

   • 1903, “The Rowland Multiplex Printing Telegraph System”, in Telegraph Age. A Semi-monthly Journal Devoted to Telegraphy, volume XX, New York, N.Y.: J[ohn] B. Taltavall, →OCLC, page 461, column 1:

     By the use of these keys in conjunction with the other keys, the operator has perfect control over the receiving printer at the distant station.

   • 1924, Railway Signaling and Communications, volume 17, number 1, Bristol, Conn.: Simmons-Boardman Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 36, column 1:

     For long distance messages, reports, etc., the use of the printer telegraph renders a highly satisfactory and efficient service, especially where the line circuits are derived through a composite or phantom circuit without the exclusive use of wires for this circuit. The Union Pacific recently installed a two-channel multiplex automatic printer on a simplexed circuit, thereby eliminating the necessity for at least one additional overland wire, and also speeding up the service and reducing the cost for each message.

   • 1928 August 18, Robert F. Dirkes, Vernon R. Kimball, James W. Long, Operating Simplex Printers in a Multiplex System‎^[1], US Patent US1802240A, claim 3, page 5, column 1:

     In a telegraph system, a multiplex transmission circuit in which the signals transmitted comprise equal-impulse code combinations, a receiving distributor for separating the successive combinations into separate channels, a simplex printer for each channel, and local means including said distributor for generating start and rest impulses for each printer.

   • 1959 September, “Compact Printer”, in Air Conditioning, Heating and Ventilating, volume 56, New York, N.Y.: Industrial Press, →OCLC, page 103:

     Top-quality prints in minutes, at savings up to 80%, are said to be possible with the Satellite printer. Printer is sold by Eugene Dietzgen Co, Chicago, Ill.

   • 2015, Nicki Peter Petrikowski, “Introduction”, in Getting the Most out of Makerspaces to Create with 3-D Printers (Makerspaces series), New York, N.Y.: Rosen Publishing, →ISBN, page 5:

     Much like a regular printer can print out a picture or text file, these machines can turn a digital 3-D model into a real, tangible object, and they are becoming more and more widespread. All over the world, makerspaces (places where people can gather, share ideas, learn, and use tools like 3-D printers to let their dreams become reality) are opening the doors.

   Hyponyms: 3D printer, inkjet printer; see also the derived terms below

Synonyms

• (person who makes prints): printmaker, printworker (employee)
• (printing business): imprint, publisher, publishing house, printseller, printshop, printing shop, printing house; imprimery (archaic)

Derived terms

• 3D printer
• bioprinter
• daisy wheel printer
• daisywheel printer
• dot matrix printer
• impact matrix printer
• impact printer
• ink jet printer
• inkjet printer
• job printer
• jour printer
• laser printer
• line printer
• miniprinter
• money printer
• network printer
• nonprinter
• pretty-printer
• printer buffer
• printer-friendly
• printerless
• printerlike
• printer's apostrophe
• printer's devil
• printer's devilry
• printer's hat
• printer's ink
• printer's proof
• printer's reader
• printer's ream
• printery
• security printer
• teleprinter
• thermal printer
• thermoprinter
• ticket printer

 

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: printer
• → Georgian: პრინტერი (ṗrinṭeri)
• → Japanese: プリンター (purintā)
• → Korean: 프린터 (peurinteo)
• → Russian: при́нтер (prínter)
• → Serbo-Croatian: prìnter, прѝнтер

Translations

one who makes prints

• Afrikaans: drukker
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܛܵܒ݂ܘܿܥܵܐ m (ṭāḇōˁā), ܛܵܒ݂ܘܿܥܬܵܐ f (ṭāḇōˁtā)
• Belarusian: друка́р m (drukár), друка́рка f (drukárka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 印刷者 (zh) (yìnshuāzhě)

• Danish: trykker (da) c
• Dutch: drukker (nl) m
• Faroese: prentari m
• Finnish: painaja (fi), vedostaja, tulostaja
• French: imprimeur (fr) m, imprimeuse (fr) f
• Galician: impresor m
• German: Drucker (de) m, Druckerin (de) f
• Greek: τυπογράφος (el) m (typográfos)
• Greenlandic: naqiterisoq
• Hungarian: nyomdász (hu)
• Ido: imprimanto
• Japanese: 印刷者 (いんさつしゃ, insatsusha)
• Korean: 인쇄자(印刷者) (inswaeja)
• Luxembourgish: Drécker m
• Macedonian: печатар (mk) m (pečatar), печатач (mk) m (pečatač)
• Maori: kaitāā (person), kaiperēhiā (person), pūreretā (Computer), perēhi (printing press)
• Ottoman Turkish: باصمه‌جی (basmacı)
• Portuguese: impressor (pt) m
• Romanian: tipograf (ro) m
• Russian: печа́тник (ru) m (pečátnik), типо́граф (ru) m (tipógraf)
• Spanish: impresor (es) f
• Swedish: typograf (sv) c, tryckare (sv) c, tryckerska c (female printer) (antiquated)
• Ukrainian: друка́р m (drukár), друка́рка f (drukárka)
• Welsh: argraffwr m
• Yiddish: דרוקער m (druker)

operator of a printing press

• Afrikaans: drukker
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܛܵܒ݂ܘܿܥܵܐ m (ṭāḇōˁā), ܛܵܒ݂ܘܿܥܬܵܐ f (ṭāḇōˁtā)
• Belarusian: друка́р m (drukár), друка́рка f (drukárka)
• Bulgarian: печата́р m (pečatár), печата́рка f (pečatárka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 印刷者 (zh) (yìnshuāzhě)

• Czech: tiskař (cs) m, tiskařka f
• Dutch: drukker (nl) m
• Esperanto: tipografo (eo)
• Faroese: prentari m
• Finnish: painaja (fi)
• French: imprimeur (fr) m, imprimeuse (fr) f
• Galician: impresor m
• German: Drucker (de) m, Druckerin (de) f
• Greek: τυπογράφος (el) m (typográfos)
• Hungarian: nyomdász (hu)
• Icelandic: prentari (is) m
• Ido: imprimisto (io)
• Irish: clódóir m
• Japanese: 印刷工 (いんさつこう, insatsukō)
• Korean: 인쇄자(印刷者) (inswaeja)
• Macedonian: печатар (mk) m (pečatar), печатач (mk) m (pečatač), печатарка f (pečatarka), печатачка f (pečatačka)
• Maori: kaiperēhi
• Norman: împrînmeux m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: trykker m

• Ottoman Turkish: باصمه‌جی (basmacı)
• Polish: drukarz (pl) m, drukarka (pl) f
• Portuguese: gráfico (pt) m, impressor (pt) m
• Romanian: tipograf (ro) m
• Russian: печа́тник (ru) m (pečátnik), печа́тница (ru) f (pečátnica), типо́граф (ru) m (tipógraf)
• Scottish Gaelic: clò-bhualadair m
• Slovak: sadzač m (not the owner, just the worker), tiskar m, tiskarka f
• Spanish: impresor (es)
• Swedish: tryckare (sv) c (press operator), tryckeriägare c (owner of printing business), tryckerska c (female printer, antiquated)
• Tagalog: manlilimbag
• Turkish: matbaacı (tr)
• Ukrainian: друка́р m (drukár), друка́рка f (drukárka)
• Welsh: argraffwr m, printiwr m
• Yiddish: דרוקער m (druker)

computing: device used to print text or images

• Afrikaans: rekenaardrukker
• Albanian: printer m
• Arabic: طَابِعَة f (ṭābiʕa)

  Gulf Arabic: طابْعة f (ṭābʕa)

• Armenian: տպիչ (tpičʻ)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܛܵܒ݂ܘܿܥܬܵܐ f (ṭāḇōˁtā)
• Azerbaijani: printer
• Basque: inprimagailu
• Belarusian: пры́нтэр m (prýnter), пры́нтар m (prýntar)
• Bengali: প্রিন্টার (bn) (prinṭar)
• Bulgarian: при́нтер (bg) m (prínter)
• Burmese: ပုံနှိပ်စက် (my) (pumhnipcak)
• Catalan: impressora (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 打印機／打印机 (zh) (dǎyìnjī), 印表機／印表机 (zh) (yìnbiǎojī) (Taiwan)

• Crimean Tatar: printer
• Czech: tiskárna (cs) f
• Danish: printer (da) c
• Dutch: printer (nl) m
• Esperanto: presilo
• Estonian: printer (et)
• Faroese: prentari m
• Finnish: tulostin (fi), printteri (fi)
• French: imprimante (fr) f
• Galician: impresora (gl) f
• Georgian: პრინტერი (ṗrinṭeri)
• German: Drucker (de) m
• Greek: εκτυπωτής (el) m (ektypotís)
• Hebrew: מַדְפֶּסֶת (he) f (madpéset)
• Hindi: प्रिंटर (hi) ? (priṇṭar)
• Hungarian: nyomtató (hu)
• Icelandic: prentari (is) m
• Ido: imprimilo (io)
• Indonesian: pencetak (id)
• Irish: clóire m, printéir m
• Italian: stampante (it) f
• Japanese: プリンター (ja) (purintā) (for computing), 印刷機 (ja) (insatsuki)
• Kalmyk: кевлүр (kevlür)
• Kazakh: басып шығарғыш (basyp şyğarğyş), принтер (printer)
• Khmer: ម៉ាស៊ីនបោះពុម្ព (maasɨn bɑh pum)
• Korean: 프린터 (ko) (peurinteo)
• Kyrgyz: принтер (printer)
• Lao: ຈັກພິມ (lo) (chak phim), ເຄື່ອງພິມ (khư̄ang phim)
• Latvian: printeris m
• Lithuanian: spausdintuvas m, printeris m
• Luxembourgish: Drécker m
• Macedonian: печатар (mk) m (pečatar), печатач (mk) m (pečatač)
• Malay: pencetak (ms)
• Maori: pūreretā, mīhini tā
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хэвлүүр (mn) (xevlüür), принтер (printer), бичиглүүр (bičiglüür) (China)

• Norman: printeu m (Jersey)
• Northwestern Ojibwa: ozhibii'an-gashkigwaason
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skriver (no) m

• Occitan: imprimanta f
• Persian:

  Dari: پِرِنْتَر (pirintar)

  Iranian Persian: چاپگر (fa) (čâpgar), پرینتر (fa) (perinter)

• Polish: drukarka (pl) f
• Portuguese: impressora (pt) f
• Romanian: imprimantă (ro) f
• Russian: при́нтер (ru) m (príntɛr)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шта̀мпа̄ч m, писач m, прѝнтер m

  Roman: štàmpāč (sh) m, pisač m, prìnter (sh) m

• Slovak: tlačiareň f, tlač f
• Slovene: tiskalnik m
• Spanish: impresora (es) f
• Swedish: skrivare (sv) c
• Tajik: принтер (printer)
• Thai: เครื่องพิมพ์ (th) (krʉ̂ʉang-pim)
• Turkish: yazıcı (tr)
• Turkmen: printer
• Ukrainian: при́нтер m (prýnter)
• Urdu: طابع ? (tābi'), پرنٹر ? (priṇṭar)
• Uzbek: printer (uz)
• Vietnamese: máy in (vi)
• Volapük: dabüköm
• Welsh: argraffydd m
• Yiddish: דרוקער ? (druker)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Norman: ^{(please verify)} împrînmeux m (Jersey)

See also

• plotter

Further reading

• printer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• reprint

Azerbaijani

Etymology

Borrowed from English printer.

Noun

printer (definite accusative printeri, plural printerlər)

1. printer (device used to print text or images)

Declension

Declension of printer
	singular	plural
nominative	printer	printerlər
definite accusative	printeri	printerləri
dative	printerə	printerlərə
locative	printerdə	printerlərdə
ablative	printerdən	printerlərdən
definite genitive	printerin	printerlərin

Possessive forms of printer
	nominative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	printerim	printerlərim
sənin (“your”)	printerin	printerlərin
onun (“his/her/its”)	printeri	printerləri
bizim (“our”)	printerimiz	printerlərimiz
sizin (“your”)	printeriniz	printerləriniz
onların (“their”)	printeri or printerləri	printerləri
	accusative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	printerimi	printerlərimi
sənin (“your”)	printerini	printerlərini
onun (“his/her/its”)	printerini	printerlərini
bizim (“our”)	printerimizi	printerlərimizi
sizin (“your”)	printerinizi	printerlərinizi
onların (“their”)	printerini or printerlərini	printerlərini
	dative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	printerimə	printerlərimə
sənin (“your”)	printerinə	printerlərinə
onun (“his/her/its”)	printerinə	printerlərinə
bizim (“our”)	printerimizə	printerlərimizə
sizin (“your”)	printerinizə	printerlərinizə
onların (“their”)	printerinə or printerlərinə	printerlərinə
	locative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	printerimdə	printerlərimdə
sənin (“your”)	printerində	printerlərində
onun (“his/her/its”)	printerində	printerlərində
bizim (“our”)	printerimizdə	printerlərimizdə
sizin (“your”)	printerinizdə	printerlərinizdə
onların (“their”)	printerində or printerlərində	printerlərində
	ablative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	printerimdən	printerlərimdən
sənin (“your”)	printerindən	printerlərindən
onun (“his/her/its”)	printerindən	printerlərindən
bizim (“our”)	printerimizdən	printerlərimizdən
sizin (“your”)	printerinizdən	printerlərinizdən
onların (“their”)	printerindən or printerlərindən	printerlərindən
	genitive
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	printerimin	printerlərimin
sənin (“your”)	printerinin	printerlərinin
onun (“his/her/its”)	printerinin	printerlərinin
bizim (“our”)	printerimizin	printerlərimizin
sizin (“your”)	printerinizin	printerlərinizin
onların (“their”)	printerinin or printerlərinin	printerlərinin

Further reading

• “printer” in Obastan.com.

Chinese

Etymology

From English printer.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): pin¹ taa²

---

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: pin¹ taa²
    • Yale: pīn tá
    • Cantonese Pinyin: pin¹ taa²
    • Guangdong Romanization: pin¹ ta²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /pʰiːn⁵⁵ tʰaː³⁵/

Noun

printer

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) printer (computer hardware); photocopier (Classifier: 部 c)

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 打印機 (“printer”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	印表機, 列表機, 列印機
	Singapore	打印機
Cantonese	Hong Kong	打印機, 列印機, printer
	Taishan (Guanghai)	打印機
	Mandalay (Taishan)	打印機
Southern Min	Puning	拍印機
Wu	Shanghai	打印機

See also

• print

References

• Bauer, Robert S. (2021) ABC Cantonese-English Comprehensive Dictionary, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, page 791

Crimean Tatar

Other scripts
Cyrillic	принтер
Roman

Etymology

From English printer.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: prin‧ter

Noun

printer

1. printer

Declension

Declension of printer

	singular	plural
nominative	printer	printerler
genitive	printerniñ	printerlerniñ
dative	printerge	printerlerge
accusative	printerni	printerlerni
locative	printerde	printerlerde
ablative	printerden	printerlerden

References

• “printer”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English printer. Equivalent to printen +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈprɪn.tər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: prin‧ter
• Rhymes: -ɪntər

Noun

printer m (plural printers, diminutive printertje n)

1. a printer (electronic device for printing papers or three-dimentional objects)

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from English printer.

Noun

prìnter m (Cyrillic spelling прѝнтер)

1. (computing) printer (device that prints images and text on paper)

   Synonyms: pisač, štampač

Declension

This entry needs an inflection-table template.