prefect
noun/ˈpriːfekt/
/ˈpriːfekt/
- (in some British schools) an older student with some authority over younger students and some other responsibilities and advantagesTopics Educationc2, People in societyc2
Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
- (also Prefect)an officer responsible for an area of local government in some countries, for example France, Italy and Japan
Word Originlate Middle English (in sense (2)): from Old French, from Latin praefectus, past participle of praeficere ‘set in authority over’, from prae ‘before’ + facere ‘make’. Sense (1) dates from the early 19th cent.
Check pronunciation:
prefect