Founder Can Mean the Person Who Started It or the Ship That Sank
A founder establishes something. The verb to founder means to sink or fail completely, and the two words are unrelated.
A founder is the person who establishes a company, a city or a movement. But *to founder* is a different word entirely: it means to fill with water and sink, from the Latin for bottom. So a founder can found a business and the business can founder, and no pun is intended.
- A person who establishes something. *The company's founder.*
- To sink (of a ship). *The vessel foundered off the coast.*
- To fail completely. *The talks foundered on money.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | founder | A co-founder. |
| Verb | found | She founded it in 2001. |
| Verb | founder | The plan foundered. |
| Noun | foundation | Laid the foundation. |
| Confused with | flounder | Floundering in the water. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The founder still owns a third of the shares.The person.
- The ship foundered in heavy seas.The nautical verb.
- Negotiations foundered at the last minute.Complete failure, not mere struggle.
Founder or flounder?
- Founder — sink, or fail outright
- Flounder — struggle clumsily, still afloat
- Found — to establish (past: founded)
- Find — to discover (past: found — the same form, different verb)
- Foundation — what something rests on, or a charitable body
The person comes from Latin *fundare*, to lay a base, via Old French. The sinking verb comes from Old French *fondrer*, to collapse, from Latin *fundus*, bottom — which is also where *fund* comes from.
Founder or flounder?
A swimmer flounders; a ship founders. Floundering is struggling, foundering is going under.
Founded or found?
The company was founded in 1920. *Found* as a past tense belongs to *find*.