-er
UK/ə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northumbria/ɐ/
-er suffix: a person or thing that does an action indicated by the root verb; used to form an agent noun.
Suffix (1)
-er (noun-forming suffix, plural -ers)
- 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
- 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
- A person or thing to which a certain number or measurement applies.
- six + -er → sixer
- six foot + -er → six-footer
- Used to form nouns shorter than more formal synonyms.
- percent + -er → percenter (“commission agent”)
- one hand + -er → one-hander (“one-man show”)
- A person who is associated with, or supports a particular theory, doctrine, or political movement.
- birth + -er → birther
- flat earth + -er → flat-earther
- 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”)
- 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
- Suffix denoting residency in or around a place, district, area, or region.
- island + -er → islander
- highland + -er → highlander
Suffix (2)
-er
- Suffix used to form the plural of a small number of English nouns.
- childer, calver, lamber, linder ("loins")
Suffix (3)
-er
- More; used to form the comparative.
- hard + -er → harder
- wet + -er → wetter
Suffix (4)
-er
- More; used to form the comparative.
Suffix (5)
-er
- Frequently; used to form frequentative verbs.
- twitter, clamber, bicker, mutter, wander, flutter, flicker, slither, smother, sputter
- Synonyms:
- -le
Suffix (6)
-er
- Instance of (the verbal action); used to form nouns from verbs.
- disclaim + -er → disclaimer
- remit + -er → remitter
Suffix (7)
-er
- Used to form diminutives.
- shive + -er → shiver
- slive + -er → sliver
Suffix (8)
-er
- Used to form slang or colloquial equivalents of words.
- association + -er → soccer (“association football”)
- football + -er → footer (“association football”)
Suffix (9)
-er
Suffix (10)
-er
- 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
-er meaning in Tagalog, Arabic, Malay and Indonesian
-er in Tagalog
- used to form the comparative of adjectives
- mas
-er in Arabic
- (used to form agent nouns) person or thing that does...
- مُـ mu-
-er in Malay
- (used form a demonym) resident or inhabitant of...
- orang
-er in Indonesian
- (used to form agent nouns) person or thing that does...
- pe
More languagesFewer languages
- -er in Persian
- ـکننده -konande, ـگر -gar, ـتر -tar, ـکار -kâr
- -er in Thai
- นัก... nák..., ผู้... pûu..., คน... kon..., ช่าง... châang...
- -er in Vietnamese
- ... hơn
Synonyms of -er
Antonyms
Forms of -er
| plural | -ers |
|---|---|
| alternative form | -'er |
| alternative form | -r |
Origin of -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- (“to protect”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian -er, West Frisian -er, Dutch -er, German Low German -er, German -er, Danish -er, Swedish -are and Icelandic -ari.
Inherited 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.
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.
Words formed from -er
Questions about -er
- What does -er mean?
- -er means a person or thing that does an action indicated by the root verb; used to form an agent noun.
- What is -er in Tagalog?
- -er in Tagalog is mas. See -er meaning in Tagalog.
- What part of speech is -er?
- -er is a suffix.
- How do you pronounce -er?
- -er is pronounced /ə/ (UK).
Words near -er in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: -er (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us--er.ogg.
Cite this entry: “-er.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-er. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.