Modificator

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person or thing that makes a change to something, adjusting its form, character, or behavior
2. Something that alters or adjusts another element so that its qualities or effects are changed
3. An agent or factor that brings about a change in the nature, properties, or workings of something else

Etymology: Modify once meant almost the opposite of change. It comes from Latin "modificare," which meant to keep something within proper measure, to moderate or regulate it. The root is "modus," "measure" or "limit," which also gave English "mode" and "moderate." Latin speakers used "modificare" for taming or restraining things, not for altering them. "Modificator" is built the same way, with the Latin agent suffix "-ator," so it denotes one who or that which modifies. Its root is the same measuring idea, and the "-ficare" element comes from "facere," "to make" or "do." The sense of altering or adjusting only gradually took over in English, so the word's core meaning is to set limits on something, and changing it came later. It is a rare word, mostly confined to technical or specialist writing, where it names the thing or person that carries out a modification.