-euse

American  

1. a suffix occurring in loanwords from French, forming feminine nouns corresponding to nouns ending in -eur: chanteuse.

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Usage

What does -euse mean? The form -euse is a suffix that marks an agent noun or, occasionally, an adjective in loanwords from French. Agent nouns are nouns that indicate a person who does an action. Broadly speaking then, -euse means "doer." The suffix -euse is relatively common in both everyday and technical terms. The suffix -euse comes from the Latin -ōsa, which was used to indicate agent nouns whose grammatical gender was female. The suffix -euse is the feminine-gendered variant of -eur. Although -eur is a masculine-gendered ending for agent nouns, it is often (though not always) preferred over -euse as the default in English, regardless of the subject’s gender. Some words that end with -euse, such as danseuse, are still reserved (though not without due criticism) for women. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use -eur article.

Etymology

Origin of -euse

< French < Latin -ōsa, feminine of -ōsus -ose ¹ (> French -eux ); taken as feminine of -eur when this suffix had lost its final consonant (later restored) and was homonymous with -eux (hence, masculine -eu ( r ), feminine -euse, by analogy with -eux, -euse )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

-euse

This is the Latin -osus; French -eux, -euse.

From Frédéric Mistral Poet and Leader in Provence by Downer, Charles Alfred