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Typically such words are formed by abbreviating or altering the original word and adding "-er". Words to which "-er" is simply suffixed to provide a word with a different, though related, meaning – such as "Peeler" (early Metropolitan policeman, after Sir Robert Peel) and "exhibitioner" (an undergraduate holding a type of scholarship called ...
In English, the -er suffix can signify: an agent noun, e.g., "singer" a degree of comparison, e.g., "louder" Oxford "-er", a colloquial and sometimes facetious suffix prevalent at Oxford University from about 1875
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry grammatical information (inflectional endings) or lexical information (derivational/lexical ...
The difference relates only to root words; -er rather than -re is universal as a suffix for agentive (reader, user, winner) and comparative (louder, nicer) forms. One outcome is the British distinction of meter for a measuring instrument from metre for the unit of length.
The comparative degrees are frequently associated with adjectives and adverbs because these words take the -er suffix or modifying word more or less. (e.g., faster, more intelligent, less wasteful). Comparison can also, however, appear when no adjective or adverb is present, for instance with nouns (e.g., more men than women).
For a comprehensive and longer list of English suffixes, see Wiktionary's list of English suffixes. Subcategories This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total.
In Dutch, whenever the suffix -er (which has several meanings) is attached to a word already ending in -r, an additional -d-is inserted in between. For example, the comparative form of the adjective zoet ( ' sweet ' ) is zoeter , but the comparative of zuur ( ' sour ' ) is zuur d er and not the expected ** zurer .
The positive is the base form of the adjective, the comparative degree is formed with the suffix "-er", and the superlative degree is formed with the suffix "-ste" and the definite article. [5] If the base form of the adjective ends in /r/ or sometimes /l/ or /n/, then there is an obligatory /d/ inserted before the comparative suffix "-er".