# professor

> English word · Noun · IPA /pɹəˈfɛs.ə/ · frequency rank #1,350

## Definitions
1. The most senior rank for an academic at a university or similar institution.
2. A teacher or faculty member at a college or university regardless of formal rank.
3. One who professes something, such as a religious doctrine.
4. A practitioner, one who (publicly) practises or teaches an art or skill.
5. A pianist in a saloon, brothel, etc.
6. The puppeteer who performs a Punch and Judy show; a Punchman.

## Etymology
From Middle English professor, professour, from Anglo-Norman proffessur and its etymon Latin professor (“declarer, person who claims knowledge”), from the past participle stem of profiteor (“profess”). By surface analysis, profess + -or.

## Easily confused with
- **profess** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/profess-vs-professor)
- **processor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/processor-vs-professor)
- **professed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/professed-vs-professor)
- **profession** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/profession-vs-professor)
- **processors** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/processors-vs-professor)

## Common misspellings (12)
`porfessor`, `pprofessor`, `prfoessor`, `proefssor`, `profesor`, `profesosr`, `professorr`, `professro`, `proffessor`, `profsesor`, `prrofessor`, `rpofessor`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/professor