Readers

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɹidɚz/

Definitions

1. Individuals who participate in the activity of understanding written content
2. Those who interpret and understand texts or printed matter ; machines that scan, interpret, or convert data from physical or digital sources
3. Persons engaged in extracting meaning from letters, words, or symbols ; electronic or mechanical tools used for capturing or processing information visually or electronically

Etymology: "Readers" is simply the plural of "reader," so the story belongs to the singular. The Old English "rēdere" or "rǣdere" meant "a reader, scholar, or diviner," which shows how closely reading and interpretation were once tied: to read a text was often to interpret something hidden in it, and a reader could be someone who unravelled omens as much as someone who parsed a page. The word grew from "read" with the agent suffix "-er," the same pattern found in "baker" or "singer." The Old English word belonged to a Germanic family that carried the sense of advice. Its relatives in Dutch ("rader"), German ("Rater"), and Saterland Frisian ("Räider") mean "advisor," so in the older sense a reader was someone who could give counsel on what the signs meant. That broader idea of working out meaning, whether from letters on a page or from the world around you, is what the modern plural carries forward.

Synonyms: audience, viewers

Antonyms: non-readers