charter member
5
5.5
- noun
- /ˈtʃɑrtər ˈmɛmbər/
:
miembro fundador
- As a charter member, she played a crucial role in establishing the society's initial goals.
Examples
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Wheaton was a charter member of the North Central Association, which began accrediting colleges in 1912.
Academic text (1993) -
I particularly want to express my appreciation to the charter members of our new 1839 Society.
Academic text (2007) -
You and me are charter members.
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In fact, I was one of the charter members.
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How many charter members are there in this little club?
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Eitel, 50, is a charter member of what we're calling the League of Extraordinary Women.
Blog text (13) -
I was actually a charter member of the ACLU in Virginia, which is why they assigned me to you.
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The Whalers were born in 1972 as a charter member of the World Hockey Association.
Academic text (2007) -
The Scarlet Knights were charter members of the Big East's football conference, which began in 1991.
Blog text (9) -
Almost exactly ten years older than Rosa, Raymond was a barber by trade and a charter member of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP.
Academic text (2004)
How Involved
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'charter' (a founding or establishing document) + 'member' yields someone associated with that founding document, i.e., an original or founding member. This reflects a straightforward adjective-noun/attributive relationship found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words can reliably infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The term charter member comes from the old practice of writing the names of the first members on a charter, a formal paper that created a group. Those named members were the original people who started the group, so 'charter member' means 'one of the founding members'.