comprador

or com·pra·dore

[ kom-pruh-dawr ]

noun
  1. (formerly in China) a local agent or factotum, as of a foreign business house.

Origin of comprador

1
First recorded in 1605–15; from Portuguese: literally, “buyer” from Latin comparātor, equivalent to comparā(re) “to furnish, provide, prepare” (see com-, prepare) + -tor -tor

Words Nearby comprador

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use comprador in a sentence

  • She was not long out from England, and a comprador order was as yet an unnatural phenomenon to her.

    Intimate China | Mrs. Archibald Little
  • The comprador provides stores, and all the necessary provisions for the ship, while she remains in port.

  • In the afternoon, Captain Gillespie came off to the ship again, with a gang of coolies under a native comprador.

    Afloat at Last | John Conroy Hutcheson
  • The comprador sent word aboard at four bells, he couldnt hold his sampan men much longer.

    Cursed | George Allan England
  • At the head of the whole household is the comprador, who is a kind of major-domo.

British Dictionary definitions for comprador

comprador

compradore

/ (ˌkɒmprəˈdɔː) /


noun
  1. (formerly in China and some other Asian countries) a native agent of a foreign enterprise

Origin of comprador

1
C17: from Portuguese: buyer, from Late Latin comparātor, from Latin comparāre to purchase, from parāre to prepare

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012