Word of the Day

: January 2, 2012

rapporteur

noun ra-por-TER

What It Means

: a person who gives reports (as at a meeting of a learned society)

rapporteur in Context

He was selected to be the UN's rapporteur on nuclear energy.

"In March, the U.N. Human Rights Council designated a special rapporteur, Ahmed Shaheed, to investigate and report on Iran's human rights violations, the first country-specific human rights rapporteur since the council's creation." -- From an article by Leonard A. Leo and Don Argue in the Sacramento Bee, October 31, 2011

Did You Know?

"Rapporteur" was adopted into English in the early 16th century and is a descendant of the Middle French verb "rapporter," meaning "to bring back, report, or refer." Other descendants of "rapporter" in English include "rapportage" (a rare synonym of "reportage," in the sense of "writing intended to give an account of observed or documented events") and "rapport" ("a harmonious relationship," as in "The young teacher had a good rapport with the students"). The words "report," "reporter," "reportage," etc., are also distant relatives of "rapporteur"; all can ultimately be traced back to the Latin prefix "re-," meaning "back, again, or against," and the Latin word "portare," meaning "to carry."