-er
A person or thing that does an action indicated by the root verb; used to form an agent noun.
Suffix morpheme
- A person or thing that does an action indicated by the root verb; used to form an agent noun.
- read + -er → reader
- see + -er → seer
- cook + -er → cooker
Antonyms: -ee
- A person or thing to which the root verb is done or can be done satisfactorily.
- look + -er → looker (“an attractive person”)
- keep + -er → keeper (“a person or thing worth keeping”)
- A person whose occupation is the root noun; (more broadly, occasionally with adjectives) a person characterized by the root.
- astrology + -er → astrologer
- baby boom + -er → baby boomer
- conlang + -er → conlanger
- A person or thing to which a certain number or measurement applies.
- six + -er → sixer
- six foot + -er → six-footer
- three-wheel + -er → three-wheeler
- Used to form nouns shorter than more formal synonyms.
- percent + -er → percenter (“commission agent”)
- one hand + -er → one-hander (“one-man show”)
- oat + -er → oater (“a Western-themed movie”)
- A person who is associated with, or supports a particular theory, doctrine, or political movement.
- birth + -er → birther
- flat earth + -er → flat-earther
- truth + -er → truther
- A thing that is related in some way to the root, such as by location or purpose.
- bacon + -er → baconer (“pig raised for bacon”)
- chocolate chip + -er → chocolate chipper (“cookie containing chocolate chips”)
- sternwheel + -er → sternwheeler (“vessel driven by a sternwheel”)
- Indicates a correspondence or coincidence between the action or condition indicated by the root and the noun being described.
- piss + -er → pisser (“a hilariously funny event or situation”)
- Suffix denoting a resident or inhabitant of (the place denoted by the proper noun); used to form a demonym.
- New York + -er → New Yorker
- London + -er → Londoner
- Dublin + -er → Dubliner
- Suffix denoting residency in or around a place, district, area, or region.
- island + -er → islander
- highland + -er → highlander
- East End + -er → East-Ender
Origin
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzijos Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er Inherited from Middle English -ere, -er, from Old English -ere, from Proto-West Germanic *-ārī, from Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz, usually thought to have been borrowed from Latin -ārius; see Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz for an alternate theory. Reinforced by Middle English -er, from Old French -ier, also from Latin -ārius; compare the synonymous but unrelated Old French -or, -eor (Anglo-Norman variant -our), from Latin -(ā)tor, from Proto-Indo-European *-tōr. The "inhabitant" sense is sometimes connected to Middle English -wær(r)e, -ware, from Old English -ware (suffix denoting residency), from Proto-West Germanic *-wari, from Proto-Germanic *warjaz (“inhabitant”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer-...
Forms
Related
Suffix idiomatic, morpheme
- Suffix used to form the plural of a small number of English nouns.
- childer, calver, lamber, linder ("loins")
Origin
From Middle English -re, -er, from Old English -ru (plural suffix), from Proto-Germanic *-izō (plural suffix). Cognate with Dutch -er (plural ending), German -er (plural ending). See also -ren.
Derived
Suffix morpheme
- More; used to form the comparative.
- hard + -er → harder
- wet + -er → wetter
- motley + -er → motlier
Origin
From Middle English -ere, from Old English -ra, from Proto-West Germanic *iʀō, *-ōʀō, from Proto-Germanic *-izô or Proto-Germanic *-ōzô (a derivative of Etymology 4, below); related to superlative -est.
Suffix morpheme
- More; used to form the comparative.
Origin
From Middle English -er, from Old English -or, from Proto-West Germanic *-ōʀ, Proto-Germanic *-ōz.
Suffix morpheme
- Frequently; used to form frequentative verbs.
- twitter, clamber, bicker, mutter, wander, flutter, flicker, slither, smother, sputter
Origin
From Middle English -eren, -ren, -rien, from Old English -erian, -rian, from Proto-West Germanic *-rōn, *-iʀōn, from Proto-Germanic *-rōną or *-izōną. Cognate with West Frisian -erje, Dutch -eren, German -eren, -ern, Danish -re, Swedish -ra.
Synonyms
Suffix law
- Instance of (the verbal action); used to form nouns from verbs.
- disclaim + -er → disclaimer
- remit + -er → remitter
- misname + -er → misnomer
Origin
From Middle English -er, from Anglo-Norman -er, Old French -er, the infinitive verbal ending.
Suffix morpheme
- Used to form diminutives.
- shive + -er → shiver
- slive + -er → sliver
- splint + -er → splinter
Origin
From Middle English -er, -ere (diminutive suffix). Compare -el.
Suffix morpheme
- Used to form slang or colloquial equivalents of words.
- association + -er → soccer (“association football”)
- football + -er → footer (“association football”)
- rugby + -er → rugger
Origin
Attested in the UK since the 19th century. Originally Rugby School slang. Later adopted by Oxford University and then wider British society.
Related
Derived
Suffix dialectal, morpheme
- A suffix creating adjectives from verbs, indicating aptitude, proneness, or tendency toward a specified action:
- clive + -er → cliver (“apt to cleave or adhere to, tenacious, expert as seizing”)
- slip + -er → slipper (“tending to make slip, slippery”)
- wake + -er → waker (“tending to wake, watchful”)
Origin
From Middle English -er, from Old English -er, -or, from Proto-Germanic *-raz. Compare -le.
Synonyms
Suffix literature, media
- Junior, child, younger person. (Attached to a name, usually one syllable of the given name.)
- Li’er said hello to his father.
- Yue’er began to laugh again and her tears shimmered like dew on a lotus leaf disturbed by a breeze. Then we heard a sound. It was Man’er. - 1979, Women of China, page 44:
- The fish was laid out on the table, but Ping’er had not come back, nor had his father. - 2002 [1934], Xiao Hong, “The Field of Life and Death”, in Howard Goldblatt, transl., The Field of Life and Death & Tales of Hulan...
Origin
From Mandarin -兒 /-儿 (-ér).