The Chair of a Meeting Is Named After the Furniture
A chair is a seat for one person with a back. The person running a meeting is called the chair because of the seat they occupy.
A chair is a seat with a back for one person. The meeting sense follows the furniture: the presiding officer sat in a particular seat, so that seat came to mean the office. The same logic gives a university *chair* of physics, a professorship named after the seat its holder occupies, and the phrase *address the chair*. The word shares a root with *cathedral*, the church that contains a bishop's seat.
- A seat. *A wooden chair.*
- The presiding officer. *Address the chair.*
- A professorship. *The chair of physics.*
- To preside. *She chaired the meeting.*
- Chairperson — the neutral title. *The chairperson spoke.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | chair | A hard chair. |
| Plural | chairs | Six chairs. |
| Verb | chair | Chair the panel. |
| Past | chaired | He chaired it. |
| Related | cathedral | A bishop's seat. |
- Pull up a chair.Furniture.
- She chaired the committee for six years.The office.
- He holds the chair of moral philosophy.Academic.
Seats that became offices
- Chair — the presiding officer of a meeting
- Cathedral — the church holding a bishop's *cathedra*, or seat
- See — a bishop's jurisdiction, from Latin *sedes*, a seat
- Chair of physics — a professorship
- Throne — the ultimate example, from Greek *thronos*
Old French *chaiere*, from Latin *cathedra*, a seat, from Greek *kathedra*. The same word gives *cathedral*.
Is it chairman or chair?
Chair is now the common neutral term, with chairperson also used. Chairman remains in some formal constitutions.
Are chair and cathedral related?
Yes. Both come from Latin cathedra, a seat. A cathedral is the church that houses a bishop's seat.