-er

¹

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 ).

E.R.

²

abbreviation

1. King Edward.

-er

³

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.

E.R.

⁴

abbreviation

1. Queen Elizabeth.

-er

⁵

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

E.R.

⁶

abbreviation

1. East Riding (Yorkshire).

2. East River (New York City).

3. emergency room.

-er

⁷

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

-er

⁸

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

-er

⁹

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

-er

¹⁰

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.

er

¹¹

[uh, er]

interjection

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

Er

¹²

Symbol, Chemistry.

1. erbium.

ER

¹³

abbreviation

1. Baseball.,  earned run.

2. efficiency report.

3. emergency room.

-er

¹

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

ER

²

abbreviation

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

2. Elizabeth Regina

3. Eduardus Rex

-er

³

suffix

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

Er

⁴

symbol

1. erbium

er

⁵

/ ə, ɜː /

interjection

1. a sound made when hesitating in speech

er

⁶

abbreviation

1. Eritrea

Word History and Origins

Origin of -er¹

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”; -ary

Origin of -er²

From New Latin Edwardus Rex

Origin of -er³

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

Origin of -er⁴

From New Latin Elizabeth Regina

Origin of -er⁵

< French, originally infinitive suffix -er, -re

Origin of -er⁶

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

Origin of -er⁷

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

Origin of -er⁸

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

Origin of -er⁹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of -er¹

Old English -ere; related to German -er, Latin -ārius

Origin of -er²

Latin: Queen Elizabeth

Origin of -er³

Old English -rd, -re (adj), -or (adv)

Example Sentences

How about an animated feature in which a snake is a gentle, misunderstood hero who seeks merely to restore his people’s —er, his fellow reptiles’—rightful legacy?

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Since the fourth-inning blast soared over the right-field roof, um, er, I’ll go with that one.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Just move the coffee table—unless you want to factor ER copays into the price.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Forty-one degrees Celsius equals 105.8 degrees Fahrenheit—a medical emergency that would mean an immediate trip to the ER, at the very least, or a call for an ambulance.

Read more on Slate

He had a lucid conversation with the ER doctor that night, who agreed to take him off the medications.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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