classifier

American  

[klas-uh-fahy-er] / ˈklæs əˌfaɪ ər /

noun

1. a person or thing that classifies.

2. a device for separating solids of different characteristics by controlled rates of settling.

3. Grammar. (in Chinese, Japanese, and other languages) a word or morpheme that corresponds to a semantic class of nouns and regularly accompanies any noun of that class in certain syntactic constructions, such as those of numeration.

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Etymology

Origin of classifier

First recorded in 1810–20; classify + -er ¹