What do we call someone who is being dictated to?
The one who rules or dictates is dictator, but what do we call the one who is being dictated to? I'm looking for a better match than slave, subservient, etc. I am trying to find a word that matches a common etymological pattern like:
Interview brings two words:
interviewer- a person who interviews someone, and
interviewee-a person who is interviewed.
Similarly, the one who dictates get 'dictator', so what is the word for the one who is 'dictated by a dictator'
I am looking for a word that is derived from the word 'dictate', if available.
Solution 1:
I was going to say “secretary”, but in this context, with no specific word for this concept, a noun from the past participle will serve (as in many other situations):
The dictated
Now write it down.
Solution 2:
Our word dictator comes from a Latin term for a magistrate who was given temporary supreme power in an emergency; it means something like one who speaks. We don't say that a dictator 'dictates' the people he rules over.