composer

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English compose

Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.

Proto-Italic *-āzijos

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

English -er

English composer

From compose + -er.

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: kəm-pōzʹər, IPA^(key): /kəmˈpoʊzəɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kəm-pōzʹər, IPA^(key): /kəmˈpəʊzə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊzə(ɹ)

Noun

composer (plural composers)

1. One who composes; an author.
   1. Especially, one who composes music.
2. One who, or that which, quiets or calms.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 43:

     The exertion necessary to soothe and subdue Lucy's passionate sorrow was the best composer to Francesca's own agitation.

   • 1713, Joseph Trapp, Musicus Apparatus Academicus set to music by William Croft, pages 38–41, →MDZ:

     Where, mighty Anna, will thy Glories end.
     Thou Great Composer of distracted states.

Derived terms

• chamber composer
• cocomposer
• composeress
• composerly
• noncomposer
• photocomposer

Related terms

• compose
• composite
• composition
• compositionist
• compositor

Translations

one who composes; an author

• Chichewa: wólémba class 1
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 作者 (zh) (zuòzhě), 作家 (zh) (zuòjiā), 創作者 / 创作者 (zh) (chuàngzuòzhě)

• Dutch: auteur (nl) m; opsteller (nl) m, maker (nl) m
• Finnish: tekijä (fi)
• German: Autor (de) m
• Hebrew: מחבר (he) m (mekhabér)
• Hungarian: szerző (hu), alkotó (hu)
• Latin: compositor m
• Portuguese: compositor (pt) m, criador (pt) m
• Romanian: autor (ro) m
• Russian: состави́тель (ru) m (sostavítelʹ)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: besteci (tr), kompozitör (tr)
• Welsh: cyfansoddwr m, cyfansoddydd m

one who composes music

• Afrikaans: komponis
• Albanian: kompozitor (sq) m
• Arabic: مُلَحِّن m (mulaḥḥin), مُؤَلِّف مُوسِيقِيّ ? (muʔallif mūsīqiyy)
• Armenian: երգահան (hy) (ergahan), կոմպոզիտոր (hy) (kompozitor)
• Azerbaijani: bəstəkar (az)
• Basque: konpositore
• Belarusian: кампазі́тар m (kampazítar), кампазі́тарка f (kampazítarka)
• Bulgarian: компози́тор m (kompozítor), компози́торка f (kompozítorka)
• Burmese: တေးရေးဆရာ (te:re:hca.ra), စာဆို (my) (cahcui), ဂီတစာဆို (my) (gita.cahcui)
• Catalan: compositor (ca) m, compositora (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 作曲家 (zh) (zuòqǔjiā)

• Czech: skladatel (cs) m, skladatelka f
• Danish: komponist (da) c
• Dutch: componist (nl) m, toondichter (nl) m, componiste (nl) f, toondichteres f
• Esperanto: komponisto
• Estonian: helilooja (et)
• Finnish: säveltäjä (fi)
• French: compositeur (fr) m, compositrice (fr) f
• Galician: compositor (gl) m, compositora f
• Georgian: კომპოზიტორი (ḳomṗoziṭori)
• German: Komponist (de) m, Komponistin (de) f, Tondichter (de) m, Tondichterin (de) f, Tonkünstler (de) m, Tonkünstlerin (de) f, Tonschöpfer (de) m, Tonschöpferin (de) f, Kompositeur (de) m, Kompositeurin (de) f, Tonsetzer (de) m, Tonsetzerin (de) f, Musikkomponist m, Musikkomponistin f
• Greek: συνθέτης (el) m (synthétis)
• Greenlandic: eriinniortoq
• Hebrew: מַלְחִין (he) m (malkhin)
• Hindi: संगीतकार (hi) m (saṅgītkār)
• Hungarian: zeneszerző (hu), komponista (hu)
• Icelandic: tónskáld (is) m
• Indonesian: komponis (id)
• Italian: compositore (it) m, compositrice (it) f
• Japanese: 作曲家 (ja) (さっきょくか, sakkyokuka), 作曲者 (ja) (さっきょくしゃ, sakkyokusha)
• Kazakh: сазгер (sazger), композитор (kompozitor)
• Khmer: អ្នកនិពន្ធ (nĕək nipŭən), អ្នកតែងភ្លេង (nĕək taeng phleing)
• Korean: 작곡가(作曲家) (ko) (jakgokga)
• Kyrgyz: күүчү (küücü)
• Lao: ນັກແຕ່ງເພງ (nak tǣng phēng)
• Latin: compositor m
• Latvian: komponists m
• Lithuanian: kompozitorius m
• Livvi: säveldäi, kompoziittoru
• Luxembourgish: Komponist
• Macedonian: композитор m (kompozitor), композиторка f (kompozitorka)
• Malay: komposer (ms), penggubah
• Maltese: kompożitur m
• Marathi: संगीतकार (mr) m (saṅgītkār)
• Mongolian: хөгжмийн зохиолч (xögžmiin zoxiolč)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: komponist m

  Nynorsk: komponist m

• Pashto: کمپوزر m (kampozár)
• Persian: آهنگساز (fa) (âhangsâz)
• Polish: kompozytor (pl) m, kompozytorka (pl) f
• Portuguese: compositor (pt) m, compositora (pt) f
• Romanian: compozitor (ro) m, compozitoare (ro) f
• Russian: компози́тор (ru) m (kompozítor)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: komponista, šuokŋadahkki

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: компо̀зӣтор m, скла̀датељ m, складатѐљица f

  Latin: kompòzītor (sh) m, sklàdatelj (sh) m, skladatèljica (sh) f

• Slovak: skladateľ m, skladateľka f
• Slovene: skladatelj (sl) m
• Sotho: seqapi
• Spanish: compositor (es) m, compositora (es) f
• Swedish: kompositör (sv), komponist (sv) c, tonsättare (sv) c
• Tajik: бастакор (tg) (bastakor), композитор (kompozitor), оҳангсоз (ohangsoz)
• Thai: คีตกวี (th) (kii-dtà-gà-wii), นักแต่งเพลง (nák-dtɛ̀ng-pleeng)
• Turkish: besteci (tr), bestekar (tr)
• Turkmen: kompozitor
• Ukrainian: компози́тор (uk) m (kompozýtor), компози́торка (uk) f (kompozýtorka)
• Uyghur: كومپوزىتور (kompozitor)
• Uzbek: bastakor (uz), kompozitor (uz)
• Vietnamese: nhà soạn nhạc
• Volapük: noatädan (vo)
• Welsh: peroriaethwr m, peroriaethydd m
• Yiddish: קאָמפּאָזיטאָר m (kompozitor)

one who, or that which, quiets or calms

• Bulgarian: успокои́тел m (uspokoítel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 平定者 (píngdìngzhě), 撫慰者 / 抚慰者 (fǔwèizhě), 調解者 / 调解者 (tiáojiězhě)

• Dutch: bedarer m
• Finnish: rauhoittaja
• Portuguese: acalmador m
• Russian: успокои́тель (ru) m (uspokoítelʹ)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French composer, from com- +‎ poser, as an adaptation of Latin compōnere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.po.ze/
• Homophones: composai, composé, composée, composées, composés, composez

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

composer

1. (transitive) to compose
2. (ambitransitive) to compose (to produce or create a musical work)
3. (transitive) to constitute, to make up
4. (transitive) to dial (a number)
5. (intransitive) to come to terms, to come to a compromise (on), to compromise [with avec ‘with’]

   Near-synonym: transiger

Conjugation

Conjugation of composer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	composer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	composant /kɔ̃.po.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		composé /kɔ̃.po.ze/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	compose /kɔ̃.poz/	composes /kɔ̃.poz/	compose /kɔ̃.poz/	composons /kɔ̃.po.zɔ̃/	composez /kɔ̃.po.ze/	composent /kɔ̃.poz/
	imperfect	composais /kɔ̃.po.zɛ/	composais /kɔ̃.po.zɛ/	composait /kɔ̃.po.zɛ/	composions /kɔ̃.po.zjɔ̃/	composiez /kɔ̃.po.zje/	composaient /kɔ̃.po.zɛ/
	past historic2	composai /kɔ̃.po.ze/	composas /kɔ̃.po.za/	composa /kɔ̃.po.za/	composâmes /kɔ̃.po.zam/	composâtes /kɔ̃.po.zat/	composèrent /kɔ̃.po.zɛʁ/
	future	composerai /kɔ̃.poz.ʁe/	composeras /kɔ̃.poz.ʁa/	composera /kɔ̃.poz.ʁa/	composerons /kɔ̃.poz.ʁɔ̃/	composerez /kɔ̃.poz.ʁe/	composeront /kɔ̃.poz.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	composerais /kɔ̃.poz.ʁɛ/	composerais /kɔ̃.poz.ʁɛ/	composerait /kɔ̃.poz.ʁɛ/	composerions /kɔ̃.po.zə.ʁjɔ̃/	composeriez /kɔ̃.po.zə.ʁje/	composeraient /kɔ̃.poz.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	compose /kɔ̃.poz/	composes /kɔ̃.poz/	compose /kɔ̃.poz/	composions /kɔ̃.po.zjɔ̃/	composiez /kɔ̃.po.zje/	composent /kɔ̃.poz/
	imperfect2	composasse /kɔ̃.po.zas/	composasses /kɔ̃.po.zas/	composât /kɔ̃.po.za/	composassions /kɔ̃.po.za.sjɔ̃/	composassiez /kɔ̃.po.za.sje/	composassent /kɔ̃.po.zas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	compose /kɔ̃.poz/	—	composons /kɔ̃.po.zɔ̃/	composez /kɔ̃.po.ze/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• corps composé
• salade composée

Related terms

• composite
• compositeur
• composition
• compost
• compote
• décomposer

Further reading

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

Old French

Etymology

From com- +‎ poser, as an adaptation of Latin compōnō, compōnere.

Verb

composer

1. To come to an agreement.
2. To compose; to create; to make; to manufacture.

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ss, *-st are modified to s, st. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of composer (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		composer			avoir composé
gerund		en composant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		composant
past participle		composé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	compos	composes	compose	composons	composez	composent
	imperfect	composoie, composeie, composoe, composeve	composoies, composeies, composoes, composeves	composoit, composeit, composot, composeve	composiiens, composiens	composiiez, composiez	composoient, composeient, composoent, composevent
	preterite	composai	composas	composa	composames	composastes	composerent
	future	composerai	composeras	composera	composerons	composeroiz, composereiz, composerez	composeront
	conditional	composeroie, composereie	composeroies, composereies	composeroit, composereit	composeriiens, composeriens	composeriiez, composeriez	composeroient, composereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	compos	compos	compost	composons	composez	composent
	imperfect	composasse	composasses	composast	composissons, composissiens	composissoiz, composissez, composissiez	composassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	compose	—	composons	composez	—

Descendants

• → English: compose
• French: composer