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• er
  er

  interjection

  (used to express or represent a pause, hesitation, uncertainty, etc.)
• Er
  Er

  erbium.
• ER
  ER

  abbreviation

  earned run.
• -er
  -er

  a suffix used in forming nouns designating persons from the object of their occupation or labor (hatter; tiler; tinner; moonshiner ), or from their place of origin or abode (Icelander; southerner; villager ), or designating either persons or things from some special characteristic or circumstance (six-footer; three-master; teetotaler; fiver; tenner ).
• E.R.
  E.R.

  abbreviation

  King Edward.

er

¹ American  

[uh, er] / ə, ər /

interjection

1. (used to express or represent a pause, hesitation, uncertainty, etc.)

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Er ² American  

Symbol, Chemistry.

1. erbium.

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ER ³ American  

abbreviation

1. Baseball. earned run.

2. efficiency report.

3. emergency room.

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-er ⁴ American  

1. a suffix used in forming nouns designating persons from the object of their occupation or labor (hatter; tiler; tinner; moonshiner ), or from their place of origin or abode (Icelander; southerner; villager ), or designating either persons or things from some special characteristic or circumstance (six-footer; three-master; teetotaler; fiver; tenner ).

2. a suffix serving as the regular English formative of agent nouns, being attached to verbs of any origin (bearer; creeper; employer; harvester; teacher; theorizer ).

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-er ⁵ American  

1. a noun suffix occurring in loanwords from French in the Middle English period, most often names of occupations (archer; butcher; butler; carpenter; grocer; mariner; officer ), but also other nouns (corner; danger; primer ). Some historical instances of this suffix, as in banker or gardener, where the base is a recognizable modern English word, are now indistinguishable from denominal formations with -er1, as miller or potter.

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-er ⁶ American  

1. a termination of nouns denoting action or process: dinner; rejoinder; remainder; trover .

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-er ⁷ American  

1. a suffix regularly used in forming the comparative degree of adjectives: harder; smaller .

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-er ⁸ American  

1. a suffix regularly used in forming the comparative degree of adverbs: faster .

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-er ⁹ American  

1. a formal element appearing in verbs having frequentative meaning: flicker; flutter; shiver; shudder .

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-er ¹⁰ American  

1. a suffix that creates informal or jocular mutations of more neutral words, which are typically clipped to a single syllable if polysyllabic, before application of the suffix, and which sometimes undergo other phonetic alterations: bed-sitter; footer; fresher; rugger . Most words formed thus have been limited to English public-school and university slang; few, if any, have become current in North America, with the exception of soccer, which has also lost its earlier informal character.

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E.R. ¹¹ American  

abbreviation

1. King Edward.

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E.R. ¹² American  

abbreviation

1. Queen Elizabeth.

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E.R. ¹³ American  

abbreviation

1. East Riding (Yorkshire).

2. East River (New York City).

3. emergency room.

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-er ¹ British  

suffix

1. a person or thing that performs a specified action

   reader

   decanter

   lighter

2. a person engaged in a profession, occupation, etc

   writer

   baker

   bootlegger

3. a native or inhabitant of

   islander

   Londoner

   villager

4. a person or thing having a certain characteristic

   newcomer

   double-decker

   fiver

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ER ² British  

abbreviation

1. (in the US) Emergency Room (in hospitals)

2. Elizabeth Regina

3. Eduardus Rex

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-er ³ British  

suffix

1. forming the comparative degree of adjectives ( deeper, freer, sunnier, etc) and adverbs ( faster, slower, etc)

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Er ⁴ British  

symbol

1. erbium

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er ⁵ British  

/ ə, ɜː /

interjection

1. a sound made when hesitating in speech

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er ⁶ British  

abbreviation

1. Eritrea

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Etymology

Origin of -er⁴

Middle English -er(e), a coalescence of Old English -ere agentive suffix (cognate with Old High German -āri, Gothic -areis, from unattested Germanic -arjaz, from unattested Slavic -arĭ, from Latin -ārius ) and Old English -ware suffix forming nouns of ethnic or residential origin (e.g., Rōmware “Romans”), cognate with Old High German -āri, from unattested Germanic -warioz “people”; see origin at -ary

Origin of -er⁵

Middle English < Anglo-French -er, equivalent to Old French -er, -ier < Latin -ārius, -ārium. Cf. -ary, -eer, -ier ²

Origin of -er⁶

< French, originally infinitive suffix -er, -re

Origin of -er⁷

Middle English -er ( e ), -re, Old English -ra, -re; cognate with German -er

Origin of -er⁸

Middle English -er ( e ), -re, Old English -or; cognate with Old High German -or, German -er

Origin of -er⁹

Middle English; Old English -r-; cognate with German - ( e ) r-

Origin of -er¹⁰

Probably modeled on nonagentive uses of -er ¹; said to have first become current in University College, Oxford, 1875–80

Origin of E.R.¹¹

From New Latin Edwardus Rex

Origin of E.R.¹²

From New Latin Elizabeth Regina

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

er Er ER -er E.R.

Scientists estimate that so-called dark matter and dark energy make up 95% of the universe, and shedding more, er, light on them could unveil more about how the universe was created.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

The YA musical drama, which premieres Friday, pays homage to musical theater, unconditional maternal love and the family-hour TV, er, Netflix movie.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

They are, er, not wholly convinced that there's a level playing field when the east coast is threatening to usurp a giant from the west.

From BBC ● May 13, 2026

We should just accept that we’re better off living in a van – er, cabin by the river.

From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2026

“Kid, you’re too sensitive. The children, er, my children, can’t come between us, unless you let them.”

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

"The specific name lii honors Li Er, the ancient Chinese philosopher better known as Laozi," said the research team, led by Bo Cai.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 22, 2026

But the current Draco obsession stems from the transliteration of his surname, "Ma Er Fu", which contains the Chinese characters for "horse" and "good fortune" -- an auspicious omen for the year ahead.

From Barron's ● Feb. 5, 2026

"Er, yeah, we'd like to go down," a female voice said over the radio as the crisis erupted at 16,000ft.

From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2024

Tai Er Pickled Fish became so popular among Hong Kong tourists in Shenzhen that, in December, it opened four locations in Hong Kong.

From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2024

“You were just a little — overenthusiastic. Still out cold. Er — perhaps it will be best if we don’t revive him until we’re safely back in the castle. We can take him like this....”

From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling

Plus, how ER design saves lives, why Apple’s new CEO must innovate, and the new building techniques behind the data-center boom.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data tracking ER visits for tick bites, which are the highest on record in almost every U.S. region since 2017.

From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026

His mom is an ER nurse, and his dad is a paramedic.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

He has also had a prolific television career, with recurring roles in standards including "Hill Street Blues" and "ER."

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

The last time I'd seen him, outside the ER, we’d both been so furious.

From "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer

It appears that these inventive students took "soc" from the middle of the word "association" and added "-er," producing "soccer".

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026

Her th sounds were more like d sounds, pronouncing the word "those" like "doze," and if a word ended in -er, like "number," she said, "num-bah."

From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2022

Tweaking that line to “in there” gives you an -er sound at the end of both lines.

From Slate ● May 31, 2020

The girl is embarrassed that she doesn’t understand, and replies, “I -er, oh, I don’t know, suh. I didn’t know you-er anybody could ride uh fish.”

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2020

Soccer was supposed to be an easy one, but I forgot about the -er not -re at the end.

From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

But the betting here is that a viewer will be preoccupied by thinking about the multitude of head injuries someone like Robby would encounter in the E.R., and why he doesn’t wear a helmet himself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 6, 2026

“Nobody ever wins a fight,” he solemnly tells the hot E.R. doctor who patches him up, echoing the words of Swayze’s sunrise tai chi practitioner.

From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2024

Presley, who’s vowed to work to expand Medicaid, responded from a shuttered E.R.:

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2023

Weicker was born in Paris in 1931, to Lowell P. Weicker Sr. — whose family founded the pharmaceutical giant E.R.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 28, 2023

But when my mom told the doctor about the big concert, he had agreed to discharge Jeffrey with another specific warning to rush to the E.R. if anything didn’t seem right.

From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick

Related Words

• cry
• exclamation
• expletive
• insertion
• interpolation
• interposition
• shout