chairwoman
Loading your saved state.
chairwoman
A female person who leads an organization, association, party, meeting, or commission.
Die Vorsitzende des Betriebsrats hat die Verhandlungen geführt.
The chairwoman of the works council led the negotiations.
The word is derived from the verb 'vorsitzen' (to chair/preside), which literally means 'to sit at the front.' So the chairwoman is the person who symbolically sits at the front of a meeting and leads it.
Wer sitzt heute der Sitzung vor?
Who is chairing the meeting today?
'Vorsitzende' is a nominalized adjective. This means it is declined like an adjective, even though it is used as a noun. Pay attention to the endings after articles.
Wir sprachen mit der Vorsitzenden des Ausschusses.
We spoke with the chairwoman of the committee.
Usually, a genitive or the preposition 'von' (of/from) is used to indicate whose chairwoman the person is. The genitive form is more common in written language.
Sie ist die Vorsitzende des Sportvereins.
She is the chairwoman of the sports club.
chairperson
'der Vorsitzende' and 'die Vorsitzende' both refer to a person who leads a group, association, meeting, or organization. The difference is mainly grammatical and natural gender. 'der Vorsitzende' is used for a man or generally when no female person is meant. 'die Vorsitzende' is used for a woman. Learners may confuse the words because the role is the same. The important thing is the article: 'der' for the masculine form, 'die' for the feminine form.
Die Vorsitzende erklärt morgen den neuen Plan des Vereins.
The chairwoman will explain the association's new plan tomorrow.
Der Vorsitzende begrüßte die Mitglieder zu Beginn der Sitzung.
The chairperson welcomed the members at the beginning of the meeting.