When you want someone to give you fitness advice or instruct you on how to perform an important task, do you need a trainer or trainor?
Since a person who watches over you is a supervisor and a person who judges your performance is an evaluator, it makes sense that someone who trains you in an area should be a trainor. But English spelling does not always echo common sense, and this is one case where you will need to be sure that you are spelling the word correctly.
What is the Difference Between Trainer and Trainor?
In this post, I will compare trainer vs. trainor. I will use each of these words in at least one example sentence, so you can see how it appears in context.
Plus, I will show you a helpful memory tool that will help you choose either trainer or trainor correctly every time.
When to Use Trainer
What does trainer mean? Trainer is a singular noun that has two important meanings. The first is a person who instructs others in a specialty area. Many Americans have personal fitness trainers, for example. On a job site, a new employee may be paired with a trainer to teach them the ways of the workplace.
Here are a few more examples,
- My personal trainer begs me to stop smoking cigarettes, but I will never stop.
- Mike Fix has 30 years of experience, so he is the designated trainer for the surface grinders.
As the plural trainers, this word also refers to athletic shoes. The plural can also refer to the first meaning above, though.
Trainer is related to the verb to train, which means to practice something or to work out. It can also mean to teach someone how to do something, which is the meaning from which trainer is derived.
When to Use Trainor
What does trainor mean? Trainor is a surname. Meghan Trainor, for example, is an American celebrity singer/songwriter. Traynor is a variant of the same name.
Trainor is a misspelling of the noun trainer, though. The confusion probably arises from related nouns that end in -or, like supervisor and evaluator. Nonetheless, trainer is the standard spelling of the noun that refers to a person who trains people.
This chart shows the relative usage of the terms personal trainer and personal trainor for reference.
As you can see from the chart, which attempts to isolate uses of trainor vs. trainer, there hasn’t been a single use of trainor meaning someone who trains in over 200 years.
Trick to Remember the Difference
Trainer is the standard spelling of this noun. Trainor is a surname.
Since neither trainer nor trainee contain the letter O, it is easy to remember the correct way to spell this word.
Summary
Is it trainor or trainer? Only one of these spellings is the correct spelling for the noun meaning a person who trains.
- Trainer is the correct spelling.
- Trainor is a misspelling but does appear occasionally as an English surname.
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