Other forms: trustees
A trustee is somebody who holds property for the benefit of others. A board of trustees, appointed trustee, the trustees of the charity.
The duty is the strictest the law imposes: a trustee must act for the beneficiaries and never for themselves, and even an honest conflict of interest is a breach. Charities and pension funds are both run this way.
1nountrusteeSomebody who holds property for the benefit of others.
“Her grandfather's money is managed by a trustee until she turns twenty-one.”
trustee is a holder.
Proto-Indo-European
*deru- — be firm, hard, solid
Old English
*trust
Middle English
trust — trust, protection
English
trust
English, today
trustee
From trust + -ee. trust comes from Middle English trust (“trust, protection”). Long considered a borrowing from Old Norse traust (“confidence, help, protection”), from Proto-Germanic traustą, but the root vocalism is incompatible, so trust has come to be considered a reflex of an unattested Old English trust, from a rare zero-grade Proto-Germanic variant of the same root also attested in Middle High German getrüste (“host”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European deru- (“be firm, hard, solid”). 2 Cognate with stq Traast (“comfort, solace”), West Frisian treast (“comfort, consolation, solace”), Dutch troost (“comfort, consolation”), German Trost (“comfort, consolation”), Low German Troost (“comfort, consolation”), lb Trouscht (“consolation”), Danish trøst (“comfort, solace”), Icelandic traust (“faith, trust; confidence”), Norwegian Nynorsk trøst, trøyst (“consolation”), Swedish tröst (“comfort, consolation”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌹 (“covenant, pact”). a doublet of tryst. More at true, tree.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA