-er — English Dictionary

Suffix

1. A person or thing that does an action indicated by the root verb; used to form an agent noun.

   Usage

   • morpheme
   • added to verbs

   Antonyms

   -ee

   Examples

   read + -er → reader

   see + -er → seer

   More examples (6)

   cook + -er → cooker

   compute + -er → computer

   run + -er → runner

   toast + -er → toaster

   swim + -er → swimmer

   do good + -er → do-gooder

2. A person or thing to which the root verb is done or can be done satisfactorily.

   Usage

   • Informal
   • morpheme
   • added to verbs

   Examples

   look + -er → looker (“an attractive person”)

   keep + -er → keeper (“a person or thing worth keeping”)

3. A person whose occupation is the root noun; (more broadly, occasionally with adjectives) a person characterized by the root.

   Usage

   • morpheme
   • added to nouns

   Examples

   astrology + -er → astrologer

   baby boom + -er → baby boomer

   More examples (4)

   conlang + -er → conlanger

   cricket + -er → cricketer

   trumpet + -er → trumpeter

   zine + -er → ziner

4. A person or thing to which a certain number or measurement applies.

   Usage

   • morpheme
   • added to numbers

   Examples

   six + -er → sixer

   six foot + -er → six-footer

   More examples (2)

   three-wheel + -er → three-wheeler

   first grade + -er → first grader

5. Used to form nouns shorter than more formal synonyms.

   Usage

   • morpheme
   • Slang
   • with few limitations

   Examples

   percent + -er → percenter (“commission agent”)

   one hand + -er → one-hander (“one-man show”)

   More examples (1)

   oat + -er → oater (“a Western-themed movie”)

6. A person who is associated with, or supports a particular theory, doctrine, or political movement.

   Usage

   • morpheme
   • added to nouns

   Examples

   birth + -er → birther

   flat earth + -er → flat-earther

   More examples (2)

   truth + -er → truther

   woke + -er → woker

7. A thing that is related in some way to the root, such as by location or purpose.

   Usage

   • morpheme
   • added to nouns or occasionally adjectives

   Examples

   bacon + -er → baconer (“pig raised for bacon”)

   chocolate chip + -er → chocolate chipper (“cookie containing chocolate chips”)

   More examples (1)

   sternwheel + -er → sternwheeler (“vessel driven by a sternwheel”)

8. Indicates a correspondence or coincidence between the action or condition indicated by the root and the noun being described.

   Usage

   • morpheme
   • Slang
   • added in slang speech to verbs or adjectives

   Examples

   piss + -er → pisser (“a hilariously funny event or situation”)

9. Suffix denoting a resident or inhabitant of (the place denoted by the proper noun); used to form a demonym.

   Usage

   • morpheme
   • added to a proper noun

   Examples

   New York + -er → New Yorker

   London + -er → Londoner

   More examples (2)

   Dublin + -er → Dubliner

   New England + -er → New Englander

10. Suffix denoting residency in or around a place, district, area, or region.

    Usage

    • morpheme

    Examples

    island + -er → islander

    highland + -er → highlander

    More examples (1)

    East End + -er → East-Ender

Suffix

1. Suffix used to form the plural of a small number of English nouns.

   Usage

   • idiomatic
   • morpheme
   • Obsolete

   Examples

   childer, calver, lamber, linder ("loins")

Suffix

1. More; used to form the comparative.

   Usage

   • morpheme
   • added to certain adjectives and adverbs

   Examples

   hard + -er → harder

   wet + -er → wetter

   More examples (4)

   motley + -er → motlier

   eerie + -er → eerier

   clayey + -er → clayier

   The younger child was outgoing, the older quite reserved.

Suffix

1. More; used to form the comparative.

   Usage

   • morpheme
   • added to certain adverbs

Suffix

1. Frequently; used to form frequentative verbs.

   Usage

   • morpheme
   • added to a verb or imitative sound

   Examples

   twitter, clamber, bicker, mutter, wander, flutter, flicker, slither, smother, sputter

Suffix

1. Instance of (the verbal action); used to form nouns from verbs.

   Usage

   • morpheme
   • added to a verb

   Examples

   disclaim + -er → disclaimer

   remit + -er → remitter

   More examples (3)

   misname + -er → misnomer

   rebut + -er → rebutter

   attain + -er → attainder

Suffix

1. Used to form diminutives.

   Usage

   • morpheme
   • added to a verb or noun

   Examples

   shive + -er → shiver

   slive + -er → sliver

   More examples (1)

   splint + -er → splinter

Suffix

1. Used to form slang or colloquial equivalents of words.

   Usage

   • morpheme

   Related words

   -ers

   Examples

   association + -er → soccer (“association football”)

   football + -er → footer (“association football”)

   More examples (2)

   rugby + -er → rugger

   Radcliffe + -er → Radder (“a building at Oxford University”)

Suffix

1. A suffix creating adjectives from verbs, indicating aptitude, proneness, or tendency toward a specified action

   Usage

   • dialectal
   • morpheme

   Synonyms

   -le

   Examples

   clive + -er → cliver (“apt to cleave or adhere to, tenacious, expert as seizing”)

   slip + -er → slipper (“tending to make slip, slippery”)

   More examples (1)

   wake + -er → waker (“tending to wake, watchful”)

Suffix

1. Junior, child, younger person. (Attached to a name, usually one syllable of the given name.)

   Usage

   • Chinese
   • morpheme

   Related words

   -ed-ess-ress-trix-ing-or

   Examples

   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.

   More examples (2)

   The fish was laid out on the table, but Ping’er had not come back, nor had his father.

   Ying’er was not yet three years old. Li’er had always been the one to play with her or to carry her places on his back.