Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
-er-. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
-er-, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
-er- in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
-er- you have here. The definition of the word
-er- will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
-er-, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Dutch
Etymology
Originally the plural ending of those nouns.
Pronunciation
Interfix
-er-
- interfix used in compounds after certain neuter nouns with a plural on -eren
- kindertaal
Derived terms
Esperanto
Pronunciation
Suffix
-er-
- 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-
- 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-
- used to link elements in some compounds
Derived terms
Ido
Suffix
-er-
- Root form of -ero
Indonesian
Etymology
From Malay -er-.
Pronunciation
Infix
-er-
- Used to form a noun (a tool).
- suling → seruling
- Used to form a noun (which has, contains, or is characteristic).
- gigi → gerigi
- Used to form a verb (repeated, having repetition, or continuous).
- gesek → geresek
- Used to form a verb(which has, contains, or is characteristic).
- kontang → kerontang
Derived terms
Further reading
Malay
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Infix
-er- (no longer productive)
- Used to form a noun (a tool).
- suling → seruling
- Used to form a noun (which has, contains, or is characteristic).
- gigi → gerigi
- Used to form a verb (repeated, having repetition, or continuous).
- gesek → geresek
- Used to form a verb(which has, contains, or is characteristic).
- kontang → kerontang
Derived terms