Begetter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who causes or originates an event, idea, or condition
2. Someone who brings about or is responsible for the creation of something
3. An individual who initiates or generates a particular outcome or effect

Etymology: "Begetter" is a plain formation: the verb "beget," with the agent suffix "-er" added to name the one who does the begetting. The verb itself is old in English, and "begetter" arrived in Middle English in a few spelling variants, including "begetare," "begettare," and "biȝetere," the last using the older Middle English letter yogh for the "y" sound. Whatever the spelling, the sense has stayed close to its origin: the person or thing that gives rise to something. The word has always carried a mild note of formality, which suits its use for authors, inventors, and founders. A "begetter" is usually someone who conceived an idea or set a project in motion rather than someone who simply built or finished it. The root verb, "beget," originally meant to father a child, so the word began in a biological sense and widened to cover creative and intellectual origins.

Synonyms: creator, producer, father, originator, initiator

Antonyms: destroyer, terminator, detractor, opponent, adversary