comptroller
noun/kəmpˈtɹoʊləɹ/ · /kəmˈtɹoʊləɹ/
Etymology From late Middle English compteroller, a spelling variant of countreroller (from which controller) due to folk etymology: the word was thought to have an etymological connection with Middle French compte (“account”) (Middle French compteroleur is attested circa 1375). Originally the two spellings were equivalent and pronounced identically; the modern pronunciation with [mp] is based on the spelling.
1
The chief accountant of a company or government.
- So the Comptroller and I thence to a tavern hard by, and there did agree upon drawing up some letters to be sent to all the pursers and Clerks of the Cheques to make up their accounts.1660 March 3 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “February 23rd, 1659–1660”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume I, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC, page 339:
- The terms of the licence shall, in default of agreement, be settled by the comptroller.1988, Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 237
- Synonyms
- administrator, chief, controller, foreman, head, head man, organiser, organizer, overseer, superintendent, supervisor
- Derived terms
- comptrollership
- Related terms
- comptrol, comptroll, controller