Today, I want to look at the two words “requester” and “requestor”. They look so similar, you’d be forgiven for simply thinking that one of them was wrong. But today, we’ll explain what the difference is, where they come from and what the difference between “er” or “or” is.
What Is The Difference Between Requester And Requestor?
A requester is a person who requests something. This person will usually request something from another person. A requestor is a computer that requests something from another computer. Hence, we will most often use “requester”.
Requester Is A Person Who Makes A Request
At some point in our lives, we have all been a requester. Even if you’ve just ordered a drink in a bar, or asked a DJ to play your favourite song, you have been a requester.
A request is something that you want. This could be a physical object (like a drink at a bar) or a thing that you want to happen (like your favourite song to be played).
But, to be a requester, you have to be a living being. To all the robots reading this, I’m sorry, you can’t be a requester.
8 Examples Of “requester”
- “We have had 500 requesters this evening. But most of them just want to have same ten songs”
- “I’m not sure why there are so many requesters in this bar tonight. We have a menu. If you don’t like what’s on there, feel free to go somewhere else!”
- “If the request does not provide details of their account, we will be unable to process the transaction. I know it’s annoying but that’s company policy”
- “The requester can apply for their favourite song to be played by talking to the DJ before the show. Best to arrive 5 minutes before just to make sure everything is on track”
- “The requester of the winning record will be given a cash prize of $300. If there is no winning record, the requester who the DJ likes the most will get the prize”
- “A requester may only make one request per day. Any more and they will be banned from the server”
- “When you find a requester in your bar, you need to check if they’re trying to scam you, or if they’re just an annoying customer”
- “The requester or his lawyer needs to be present at the court hearing in order for the ruling to be valid”
Requestor Is A Computer That Makes A Request
The word “requestor” is nowhere near as common as “requester”.
When I wrote this out, Microsoft Word put a red squiggly line underneath; the word “requestor”. But it is a real word.
A requestor is similar to a requester in that it makes a request. However, to be a requestor, you must be a computer.
Let’s say one computer requests a document from another. The computer that’s asking for the document would be the requestor. This is how multiple computers can communicate with each other.
Humans, I’m afraid you cannot be a requestor.
7 Examples Of “requestor”
- “The reason why there was a problem with sending the file is that there was a bug within the requestor. Thankfully, I’ve spoken to IT, and they’ve managed to get it all sorted”
- “If there’s an issue with the requestor, the IT specialist will need to find out what’s wrong with it. Usually, it’s just that too many files are being sent at once. But it’s rarely something they can’t sort out”
- “If all the requestors crash at the same time, it’s usually because there’s too many of them. There needs to be enough non-requestors to process all the requests”
- “First of all the requestor makes the request. It then takes a matter of seconds before everything is sent over. So long as the request does not involve documents older than 4 years”
- “Many people don’t understand that the success of document transferral starts with having a strong and stable requestor. Without that, there is little hope of success”
- “There’s a lot of requestors in this office right now. Best thing to do is have a lunch break, that should be enough time for the system to process everything”
- “It’s sorting out some things from a requestor. That’s why it’s so slow”
The Etymology Of “Request”
Whether we’re talking about a requester or a requestor, by looking at the etymology of the word “request”, we can better understand what it means and how it came to be.
Much like plenty of other words, the origin of “request” is not entirely English. When the Normans took over in 1066, they bought a lot of their words over with them.
The word “request” comes from the Old French “requeste”, which, in turn, comes from the Latin word “Requiere”.
The Latin “requirere” is also where we get our word “require” from.
RequestER Or RequestOR: What Do The Suffixes Mean?
To help me to understand why one is called “requester” and the other “requestor”, I did some research into what the suffixes “er” and “or” meant.
According to Google, “or” is one who does a thing and “er” is one that performs an action.
And if you’ve got even a fraction of a brain, you should be able to figure out that these two definitions are remarkably similar to one another. So, it’s fair to say that there isn’t much of a difference between “er” and “or” as a suffix.
It’s just that “or” seems to be slightly more modern.
Conclusion
And there we have it. The difference between a requester and a requestor.
The only difference is that a requester is a living being, usually a human. But a requestor is an electronic “being”, usually a computer.
Both words come from the verb “request” which has its origins in Latin but was brought over to England when the French invaded and put a French king on the throne.
The word “requester” has been in English for a long time, and to be honest, I don’t know why we had to come up with a different word for when talking about computers. But like many things in our language, it simply is what it is.
Next time you’re wondering whether you should use “requester” or “requestor” just think about whether you’re talking about a computer or person.
Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here.
