Activator

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A compound or agent that triggers a reaction or process
2. A substance or factor that initiates or accelerates a specific biological or chemical activity
3. An element that causes a biological or chemical reaction to begin or speed up

Etymology: The "-or" in "activator" is a Latin agent suffix, and the chain behind it runs through a cluster of Latin and Greek words for doing and acting. The Latin "agere" ("to drive, do, act") sits at the root of "actus" and "activus," the latter borrowed from Latin into Old French as "actif" and then into Middle English as "actyf," the ancestor of modern "active." English then built the verb "activate" by adding "-ate," a suffix taken from Latin "-atus" that turns a stem into a verb. "Activator" is simply that verb plus "-or," which names the thing or person that performs the action, so an activator is whatever makes something active. The Latin "-tor" suffix, meaning one who performs an action, was inherited by Old French as "-eor" and entered Middle English as "-our," which is why English agent nouns such as "actor" and "doctor" share the same ending. English uses "-or" in the same way, which produces the modern sense of a substance or device that starts a reaction.

Synonyms: catalyst, stimulator, initiator, accelerator, enhancer

Antonyms: inhibitor, suppressor, blocker, preventer