後綴-er的含義、詞源和例詞
漢：-er是名詞、動詞、形容詞和副詞後綴,是一個古英語後綴。
一.名詞後綴
1.表示人
(a)行爲的主動者，做某事的人，如：singer 歌唱家；leader 領袖；dancer 跳舞者；fighter 戰士；reader 讀者；truner 車工；writer 作者，作家。
(b)與某事物有關的人，如：hatter 帽商，制帽工人；teenager （十三至十九嵗的青年）；banker 銀行家；tinner 錫匠；miler 一英裡賽跑運動員。
(c)屬於某國某地區的人，如：United Stateser 美國人；Britisher 英國人；New Yorker 紐約人；Londoner 倫敦人；Thailander 泰國人；inlander 內地人；villager 村民。
2.表示物（與某事物有關之物或能做某事之物）及動物（能做某事的動物）
washer 洗衣機；fiver 五元鈔票；lighter 打火機；tenner 十元鈔票；heater 加熱器；silencer 消音器；cutter 切削器；woodpecker 啄木鳥;boiler 煮器；creeper 爬行動物。
3.加在方位詞上表示“...風”
norther 強北風；souther 強南風；northwester 強西北風；southeaster 強東南風；
二.動詞後綴
表示反複動作、連續動作及擬聲動作，如：waver 來加擺動；mutter 喃喃自語；chatter 喋喋不休；clatter 作卡嗒聲；stutter 結舌，口喫；patter 發嗒嗒聲；batter連打；whisper 低語，作沙沙聲。
三.形容詞及副詞後綴
表示比較級“更...”，如：greater 更大；faster 更快；warmer 更煖；earlier 更早；happier 更快樂；harder 更努力。
英：
-er (1)
English agent noun ending, corresponding to Latin -or. In native words it represents Old English -ere (Old Northumbrian also -are) "man who has to do with," from West Germanic *-ari (cf. German -er, Swedish
-are, Danish -ere), from Proto-Germanic *-arjoz. Some believe this root is identical with, and perhaps a borrowing of, Latin -arius.
In words of Latin origin, verbs derived from pp. stems of Latin ones (including most verbs in -ate) usually take the Latin ending -or, as do Latin verbs that passed through French (e.g. governor), but there
are many exceptions (eraser, laborer, promoter, deserter, sailor, bachelor), some of which were conformed from Latin to English in late Middle English.
The use of -or and -ee in legal language (e.g. lessor/lessee) to distinguish actors and recipients of action has given the -or ending a tinge of professionalism, and this makes it useful in doubling words
that have both a professional and non-professional sense (e.g. advisor/adviser, conductor/conducter, incubator/incubater, elevator/elevater).
-er (2)
comparative suffix, from Old English -ra (masc.), -re (fem., neuter), from Proto-Germanic *-izon, *-ozon (cf. Gothic -iza, Old Saxon -iro, Old Norse -ri, Old High German -iro, German -er), originally also
with umlaut change in stem, but this was mostly lost in Old English by historical times and has now vanished (except in better and elder).
For most comparatives of one or two syllables, use of -er seems to be fading as the oral element in our society relies on more before adjectives to express the comparative; thus prettier is more pretty,
cooler is more cool [Barnhart].
-er (3)
suffix used to make jocular or familiar formations from common or proper names (soccer being one), first attested 1860s, English schoolboy slang, "Introduced from Rugby School into Oxford University slang,
orig. at University College, in Michaelmas Term, 1875" [OED, with unusual precision].
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-er1
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 ).
Compare -ier , -yer.
Origin:
Middle English -er ( e ), a coalescence of Old English -ere agentive suffix (cognate with Old High German -āri, Gothic -areis < Germanic *-arjaz (> Slavic *-arĭ ) < Latin -ārius -ary) and Old
English -ware forming nouns of ethnic or residential orig. (as Rōmware Romans), cognate with Old High German -āri < Germanic *-warioz people
-er2
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 -er 1 , as miller or potter.
Origin:
Middle English < Anglo-French -er, equivalent to Old French -er, -ier < Latin -ārius, -ārium. Compare -ary, -eer, -ier
-er3
a termination of nouns denoting action or process: dinner; rejoinder; remainder; trover .
Origin:
< French, orig. infinitive suffix -er, -re
-er4
a suffix regularly used in forming the comparative degree of adjectives: harder; smaller .
Origin:
Middle English -er ( e ), -re, Old English -ra, -re; cognate with German -er
-er5
a suffix regularly used in forming the comparative degree of adverbs: faster .
Origin:
Middle English -er ( e ), -re, Old English -or; cognate with Old High German -or, German -er
-er6
a formal element appearing in verbs having frequentative meaning: flicker; flutter; shiver; shudder .
Origin:
Middle English; Old English -r-; cognate with German - ( e ) r-
-er7
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.
Compare -ers.
Origin:
probably modeled on nonagentive uses of -er1 ; said to have first become current in University College, Oxford, 1875–80