matador

Borrowed from Spanish matador (“killer”). Used in the English language as title for a bullfighter, however referred to as a torero in Spain.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈma.tə.dɔː/^[1]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmæ.tə.dɔɹ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætədɔː(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: mat‧a‧dor

matador (plural matadors or matadores)

1. (bullfighting) The person whose aim is to kill the bull in a bullfight.
   • 1962, Arthur Miller, “The Bored and the Violent”, in Herbert Gold, editor, First Person Singular: Essays for the Sixties‎^[1], New York: Dial, published 1963, page 181:

     […] few of these boys know how to fight alone, and hardly any without a knife or a gun. They are not to be equated with matadors or boxers or Hemingway heroes. They are dangerous pack hounds who will not even expose themselves singly in the outfield.

   • 1968, James A. Michener, “Sevilla”, in Iberia, New York, NY: Dial Press, published 2015, →ISBN, page 317:

     The second is La Macarena, named after an Arabian princess, and she was preferred by another great matador, Joselito, and to see her leave her parish church of San Gil at one in the morning of Good Friday or return later in the day is held by many Sevillanos to be the most important thing that can happen during Holy Week.

   • 1985 June 9, William Kennedy, “The Last Ole”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     Hemingway's subject for the epilogue was the mano a mano (or hand-to-hand, a duel) between Spain's two leading matadors, Luis Miguel Dominguin and his brother-in-law, Antonio Ordonez.

2. (uncountable) A certain game of dominoes in which four dominoes (the 4-3, 5-2, 6-1, and double blank), called matadors, may be played at any time in any way.
3. (card games) The jack of clubs, or any other trump held in sequence with it, in the game of skat.
4. (card games) One of the three chief cards in ombre and quadrille.

• bullfighting
• bull ring
• picador
• tauromachy
• toreador

• IPA^(key): [ˈmatador]
• Hyphenation: me‧ta‧dor

matador m anim (female equivalent matadorka)

1. (bullfighting) matador (the person whose aim is to kill the bull in a bullfight)
   • 1930, Karel Čapek, Výlet do Španěl:

     Bledý matador jde znovu s mečem a muletou zabíjet podle pravidel hry; avšak býk se zaberanil a stojí se vztyčenou hlavou, se šíjí zježenou banderillami a jakoby přehozenou pláštěm krve.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “matador”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “matador”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

From Spanish matador.

• Rhymes: -oːɐ̯

matador c (singular definite matadoren, plural indefinite matadorer)

1. matador (bullfighting)
2. tycoon

matador

1. Monopoly (board game)

• “matador” in Den Danske Ordbog

Borrowed from Spanish matador.

• IPA^(key): /ma.ta.dɔʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

matador m (plural matadors)

1. (bullfighting) matador

• “matador”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from Spanish matador.

• IPA^(key): /maˈta.dɔr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -adɔr
• Syllabification: ma‧ta‧dor

matador m pers

1. matador (the person whose aim is to kill the bull in a bullfight)

• matador in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• matador in Polish dictionaries at PWN

From matar +‎ -dor.

• Rhymes: (Portugal, São Paulo) -oɾ, (Brazil) -oʁ
• Hyphenation: ma‧ta‧dor

matador (feminine matadora, masculine plural matadores, feminine plural matadoras)

1. which kills
2. (figurative) seductive

   olhar matador ― seductive look

matador m (plural matadores, feminine matadora, feminine plural matadoras)

1. killer (someone who kills)

• “matador”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Borrowed from French matador.

matador m (plural matadori)

1. (bullfighting) matador

By surface analysis, matar (“kill”) +‎ -dor (agent suffix). May correspond to Latin mactātōrem (“slayer, killer, slaughterer”), but the origin of the base verb matar is disputed.

• Rhymes: -oɾ

• IPA^(key): /mataˈdoɾ/ [ma.t̪aˈð̞oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: ma‧ta‧dor

matador m (plural matadores, feminine matadora, feminine plural matadoras)

1. a slaughterer, a killer

   Synonym: asesino

2. (bullfighting) matador, a featured bullfighter at a bullfight event

   Synonym: diestro

• picador
• toreador

• “matador”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

matador c

1. (bullfighting) a matador

• matador in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• matador in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• matador in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Borrowed from Spanish matador.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /mataˈdoɾ/ [mɐ.t̪ɐˈd̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: ma‧ta‧dor

matador (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜆᜇᜓᜇ᜔)

1. butcher

   Synonyms: matadero, magkakarne

2. (bullfighting) matador; bullfighter

   Synonyms: toreador, torero

• “matador”, in KWF Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2024
• “matador”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018