What does proprietor mean?
Word: Proprietor
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Proprietor means the person a business, such as a shop, hotel or newspaper, belongs to.
How do you spell proprietor?
Syllables: pro - pri - e - tor
Tricky part: The last syllable is said so weakly that many pupils end the word in er. It is spelt or.
Watch out for: proprieter, propritor, propriator
Memory tip: Ask yourself, 'Manager or proprietor?' The little word or that joins them also closes the word.
Proprietor in a sentence
Example 1: The proprietor of the sweet shop by the harbour lets us taste each new batch of fudge.
Example 2: Mr Fernandes, the proprietor of a small guest house in Goa, remembers every guest.
Example 3: As a sole proprietor, my aunt handles the orders, the accounts and the deliveries herself.
Fun Fact
Proprietor belongs to the same word family as property and proper, and all three go back to the Latin word proprius. A proper noun and a shop's proprietor are distant relatives.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly and one is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. accountant 2. entrepreneur 3. cashier 4. propreitor
a) someone who starts a new business and takes the risk
b) someone who keeps and checks financial records
c) someone who takes payments in a shop
d) someone who holds the rights to a shop or firm
Show answer
d) someone who holds the rights to a shop or firm. Two vowels have swapped places in the misspelt word; the other three are printed correctly.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The hotel's rotrippoer came to the gate to welcome the visiting team.
a) protector
b) proprietary
c) proprietor
d) propriety
Show answer
c) proprietor. Ten letters with three r's and no y or c: the other three cannot be made from the jumble.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
propriettor
a) r
b) t
c) i
d) o
Show answer
b) t. The t near the end of the word is a single letter.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word proprietor as used in the sentence:
Our bakery's proprietor gives every child on the lane a free biscuit on their birthday.
a) owner
b) visitor
c) supplier
d) neighbour
Show answer
a) owner. The bakery belongs to this person, which is what owner says.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which person at Hotel Lotus is the proprietor?
a) Ms Pinto, who booked a room for the weekend
b) Mr Das, who cooks in its kitchen every day
c) Mrs Rao, who bought the hotel ten years ago
d) Sunil, who drives guests from the airport
Show answer
c) Mrs Rao, who bought the hotel ten years ago
2. What can the proprietor of a bookshop do that a shop assistant usually cannot?
a) put new stock on the shelves
b) help a customer to find a title
c) wrap a book neatly as a gift
d) decide to sell the shop to someone else
Show answer
d) decide to sell the shop to someone else
