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prefect

Pronunciation: /ˈpɹiːfɛkt/

The English word “prefect” has 7 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. An official of Ancient Rome who controlled or superintended a particular command, charge, department, etc.
  2. The head of a department in France.
  3. The head of a county in Albania or Romania.
  4. The head of a prefecture in Japan.
  5. A school pupil in a position of power over other pupils.
  6. A commander.
  7. A head of a dicastery of the Roman Curia of the Roman Catholic Church.

Etymology

From Middle English prefect and prefecte, from Old French prefect (Mod. French préfet), from Latin praefectus (“one placed in charge, overseer, director, prefect”), from praeficere (“to place in charge”).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.