indicating a feminine agent, corresponding to nouns ending in -tor: executrix
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
-trix,
- Pronounsa suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, where it formed feminine nouns or adjectives corresponding to agent nouns ending in -tor (Bellatrix). On this model, -trix is used in English to form feminine nouns (aviatrix;
executrix) and geometrical terms denoting straight lines (directrix).
- Latin -trīx, stem -trīc-
- A suffix borrowed directly from Latin, -trix has been used since the 15th century on feminine agent nouns that correspond to a masculine (in Latin) or generic (in English) agent noun ending in -tor: aviator, aviatrix; legislator, legislatrix; orator, oratrix. Most nouns in -trix have dropped from general use, so that terms like aviatrix, benefactrix, legislatrix, oratrix, and proprietrix occur rarely or not at all in present-day English. The forms in -tor are applied to both men and women:Her sister is the proprietor of a new restaurant.When relevant, sex is specified with the generic term:Amelia Earhart was a pioneer woman aviator.Legal documents still use administratrix, executrix, inheritrix, and the like, but these forms too are giving way to the -tor forms. See also -enne, -ess, -ette.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'-trix' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
-enne
- -ette
- Bellatrix
- Hermitian matrix
- acute bisectrix
- administratrix
- altricial
- aviatrix
- benefactrix
- bisectrix
- cantatrice
- cockatrice
- coexecutrix
- diagonal matrix
- directrix
- dominatrix
- dot matrix
- empress
- ess
- executrix
- fornicatrix
- generatrix
- identity matrix
- inheritrix
- legislatrix
- matrix mechanics
- matrix sentence
- mediatrix
- meretricious
- obstetrical
- obtuse bisectrix
- oratrix
- passive-matrix
- proprietrix
- separatrix
- square matrix
- stochastic matrix
- tectrix
- testatrix
- tortricid
- tractrix
- triangular matrix
- trice
- victrix