founder

B2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈfæʊ̯n.də/ UK /ˈfaʊ̯n.dəː/ See IPA manual

Freq #9824

Meanings

1

noun
A person who starts or establishes a company, organization, or institution.

Mark Zuckerberg is the founder of Facebook.
2

verb
(Of a ship) to fill with water and sink.

The old ship foundered in the storm and sank within minutes.
3

verb
To fail completely, especially after a difficult start.

The peace talks foundered when neither side would compromise.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms founderedfounderingfounders

Derived forms bell-founderbellfounderbrassfounderbronzefoundercofounderfoundererfounderitisfounderousfoundershipfoundressironfounderletterfounder

Etymology

From Middle French fondrer (“send to the bottom”), from Latin fundus (“bottom”).

Topics

People & Society

External links

# founder

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈfæʊ̯n.də/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈfaʊ̯n.dəː/
**Frequency rank:** 9824

## Meanings
1. A person who starts or establishes a company, organization, or institution.
2. (Of a ship) to fill with water and sink.
3. To fail completely, especially after a difficult start.

## Examples
- Mark Zuckerberg is the founder of Facebook.
- The old ship foundered in the storm and sank within minutes.
- The peace talks foundered when neither side would compromise.

## Derived Forms
- bell-founder
- bellfounder
- brassfounder
- bronzefounder
- cofounder
- founderer
- founderitis
- founderous
- foundership
- foundress
- ironfounder
- letterfounder

## Etymology
From Middle French fondrer (“send to the bottom”), from Latin fundus (“bottom”).

## AI Etymology
Founder comes from Middle French fondrer (“send to the bottom”), from Latin fundus (“bottom”). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as bell-founder, bellfounder, brassfounder, and bronzefounder. In present use it covers a person who starts or establishes a company, organization, or institution, (Of a ship) to fill with water and sink, and to fail completely, especially after a difficult start.

## Topics
- People & Society

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