-er-

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Dutch

Etymology

Originally the plural ending of those nouns.

Pronunciation

Interfix

-er-

  1. interfix used in compounds after certain neuter nouns with a plural on -eren
    kindertaal

Derived terms

Esperanto

Pronunciation

  • Audio:(file)

Suffix

-er-

  1. Root form of -ero

French

Etymology

Added before various suffixes (especially -ole and -on, but also sometimes -elle, -et, -ette, -eau, by analogy to or mistaken division of other words which end in erole, eron, ereau, etc, where the er was part of the first element (e.g. fougerolle, fougerole, from fougère + -ole) or the entire word was borrowed from another language such as Italian (e.g. muserole, muserolle, from Italian museruola).

Interfix

-er-

  1. used before various noun-forming suffixes
    -erelle (coquerelle), -eret (coqueret), -erette (collerette), -ereau (poétereau), -erole (èverole), -eron (laideron)

Derived terms

Further reading

  • Thomas S. Thomov, Morphologie du français moderne (1960), page 28
  • Romance Philology (1969), volume 23, page 298: "-erole-er- (< -ÅR) + -ole ( < -EOLU): maierole. A lengthened var. of -ole, this suffix appears in the late Middle Ages, formed through “false division”, namely the secondary rapprochement of, say, bannerole (banniere + -ole) or casserole with ban- or cass-. Is the -er- intercalated for rhythmic of differentiatory purposes? This "interfix" conveys no semantic message: It simply serves as an occasionally handy grammatical tool."
  • Nicol Christopher William Spence, The Structure(s) of French (1996), page 95: "Some suffixes have reinforced variants: for instance, -et is expanded to -elet in verdelet, -on to -eron in moucheron, and -er to -eter in bec > becqueter. The suffix -ie has a reinforced variant -erie (cf. bouffonnerie, pédanterie) on the model of the many words in -erie where the suffix had been added to a word ending in -(i)er (boulanger, épicier, laitier, etc). By analogy with a number of other nouns, adjectives and verb-forms, a linking -t- or -ll- is often inserted between a lexeme ending in a vowel and the suffix: cf. bureau > bureautique "
  • Laurie Bauer, English Word-Formation (1983), page 19: "Similarly, the suffix -eron which could once be used in French to form a word for the person who carries out an action (e.g. forg-er 'to forge' > forg-eron 'smith') is now no longer productive, and the suffix -eur (e.g. forg-er 'to forge' > forg-eur 'forger') is used productively in its place (Guilbert, 1975: 178-9)."

German

Interfix

-er-

  1. used to link elements in some compounds

Derived terms

Ido

Suffix

-er-

  1. Root form of -ero

Indonesian

Etymology

Inherited from Malay -er-.

Pronunciation

Infix

-er-

  1. Used to form a noun (a tool).
    sulingseruling
  2. Used to form a noun (which has, contains, or is characteristic).
    gigigerigi
  3. Used to form a verb (repeated, having repetition, or continuous).
    gesekgeresek
  4. Used to form a verb(which has, contains, or is characteristic).
    kontangkerontang

Derived terms

Malay

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Infix

-er- (no longer productive)

  1. Used to form a noun (a tool).
    sulingseruling
  2. Used to form a noun (which has, contains, or is characteristic).
    gigigerigi
  3. Used to form a verb (repeated, having repetition, or continuous).
    gesekgeresek
  4. Used to form a verb(which has, contains, or is characteristic).
    kontangkerontang

Derived terms