-er

¹ 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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E.R. ² American  

abbreviation

1. King Edward.

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-er ³ 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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E.R. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. Queen Elizabeth.

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-er ⁵ American  

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

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E.R. ⁶ American  

abbreviation

1. East Riding (Yorkshire).

2. East River (New York City).

3. emergency room.

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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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er ¹¹ American  

[uh, er] / ə, ər /

interjection

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

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Er ¹² American  

Symbol, Chemistry.

1. erbium.

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ER ¹³ American  

abbreviation

1. Baseball. earned run.

2. efficiency report.

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 -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 E.R.²

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 E.R.⁴

From New Latin Elizabeth Regina

Origin of -er⁵

< 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

Example Sentences

“Folks like to talk about themselves, I suppose. And when they find a listener, they keep on jabbering. Plus, it don’t—er, doesn’t—hurt to be blessed with a good set of ears.”

From Literature

“They both can get a body shaken up. But I ain’t—er, haven’t—ever been frightened by either yet. Why do you ask?”

From Literature

“What we need, Nell—er, Penelope—is a confession,” Mr. Pinkerton declared, running a hand through his wild brown beard.

From Literature

The UnitedHealth spokesman said its HouseCalls program helped reduce hospital stays and ER visits and connected patients with needed services through visits to 3.1 million seniors in 2025.

From The Wall Street Journal

Leading you to “ER” ... which makes me think of “The Pitt.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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