-er

read + -er → reader

cook + -er → cooker

compute + -er → computer

run + -er → runner

toast + -er → toaster

swim + -er → swimmer

do good + -er → do-gooder

(added to verbs) A person or thing that does an action indicated by the root verb; used to form an agent noun.

look + -er → looker (“an attractive person”)

keep + -er → keeper (“a person or thing worth keeping”)

(added to verbs, informal) A person or thing to which the root verb is done or can be done satisfactorily.

astrology + -er → astrologer

baby boom + -er → baby boomer

conlang + -er → conlanger

cricket + -er → cricketer

trumpet + -er → trumpeter

zine + -er → ziner

(added to nouns, chiefly denoting occupations) A person whose occupation is the root noun; (more broadly, occasionally with adjectives) a person characterized by the root.

six + -er → sixer

six foot + -er → six-footer

three-wheel + -er → three-wheeler

first grade + -er → first grader

(added to numbers, measurements or nouns denoting quantified sets) A person or thing to which a certain number or measurement applies.

percent + -er → percenter (“commission agent”)

one hand + -er → one-hander (“one-man show”)

oat + -er → oater (“a Western-themed movie”)

(slang, chiefly entertainment, with few limitations) Used to form nouns shorter than more formal synonyms.

birth + -er → birther

flat earth + -er → flat-earther

truth + -er → truther

woke + -er → woker

(added to nouns) A person who is associated with, or supports a particular theory, doctrine, or political movement.

bacon + -er → baconer (“pig raised for bacon”)

chocolate chip + -er → chocolate chipper (“cookie containing chocolate chips”)

sternwheel + -er → sternwheeler (“vessel driven by a sternwheel”)

(added to nouns or occasionally adjectives, generally) A thing that is related in some way to the root, such as by location or purpose.

-er

(used to form agent nouns) person or thing that does...

-тель

-а́тель m (-átelʹ) / -я́тель m (-játelʹ) / -и́тель m (-ítelʹ)

often translated as joueur m/joueuse f de followed by the name of the instrument or game played

but some words have specific translations

giocatore m/giocatrice f di followed by the name of the sport

-ák

(with numbers, measurements or quantified sets) ranked by or having...

Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz
Proto-West Germanic *-ārī
Old English -ere
Middle English -er
English -er
Inherited from Middle English -ere, -er, from Middle English -ere, from Old English -ere, from Proto-West Germanic *-ārī, from Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz, usually thought to have been borrowed from Latin -ārius. However, Gąsiorowski suggests that *-ārijaz is a native formation; he derives it from earlier *-azrijaz, which he etymologises as a zero-grade form of *-sōr suffixed with *-ih₂, creating a suffix *-sr-ih₂ for forming feminine agent nouns, which was then masculinised by attaching *-ós.
Cognates
 Saterland Frisian -er, West Frisian -er, Dutch -er, German Low German -er, German -er, Danish -er, Swedish -are and Icelandic -ari
Compare the synonymous but unrelated Old French -or, -eor (Anglo-Norman variant -our), from Latin -(ā)tor, from Proto-Indo-European *-tōr.

-'er

following an abbreviation, or sometimes following a number


-er

New York + -er → New Yorker

London + -er → Londoner

Dublin + -er → Dubliner

New England + -er → New Englander

(added to a proper noun) Suffix denoting a resident or inhabitant of (the place denoted by the proper noun); used to form a demonym.

island + -er → islander

highland + -er → highlander

eastend + -er → eastender

Suffix denoting residency in or around a place, district, area, or region.

(used form a demonym) resident or inhabitant of...

often translated as habitant m/habitante f de followed by the name of the place

From Middle English -ere, from Old English -ware (suffix denoting residency or meaning "inhabitant of"), from Proto-West Germanic *-wari, from Proto-Germanic *warjaz (“defender, inhabitant”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to close, cover, protect, save, defend”).


-er

childer, calver, lamber, linder ("loins")

(obsolete, no longer productive) Suffix used to form the plural of a small number of English nouns.

From Middle English -re, -er, from Old English -ru (plural suffix), from Proto-Germanic *-izō (plural suffix). Cognate with Dutch -er (plural ending), German -er (plural ending). See also -ren.


-er

bottle + -er → butler

From Middle English -er, representing various noun-suffixes in Old French and Anglo-Norman, variously -er, -ier and -ieur, from Latin -aris, -arius, -atorium. As a productive suffix, now merged with the occupational sense of Etymology 1.


-er

hard + -er → harder

wet + -er → wetter

motley + -er → motlier

eerie + -er → eerier

(added to certain adjectives and adverbs, now especially short ones) More; used to form the comparative.

used to form the comparative of adjectives

mwy

used before the adjective only if polysyllabic

From Middle English -ere, from Old English -ra, from Proto-West Germanic *iʀō, *-ōʀō, from Proto-Germanic *-izô or Proto-Germanic *-ōzô (a derivative of Etymology 6, below); related to superlative -est.


-er

(added to certain adverbs) More; used to form the comparative.

From Middle English -er, from Old English -or, from Proto-West Germanic *-ōʀ, Proto-Germanic *-ōz.


-er

twitter, clamber, bicker, mutter, wander, flutter, flicker, slither, smother, sputter

(added to a verb or imitative sound) Frequently; used to form frequentative verbs.

From Middle English -eren, -ren, -rien, from Old English -erian, -rian, from Proto-West Germanic *-rōn, *-iʀōn, from Proto-Germanic *-rōną or *-izōną. Cognate with West Frisian -erje, Dutch -eren, German -eren, -ern, Danish -re, Swedish -ra.


-er

disclaim + -er → disclaimer

remit + -er → remitter

misname + -er → misnomer

rebut + -er → rebutter

attain + -er → attainder

(chiefly law, added to a verb) Instance of (the verbal action); used to form nouns from verbs.

From Middle English -er, from Anglo-Norman -er, Old French -er, the infinitive verbal ending.


-er

shive + -er → shiver

slive + -er → sliver

splint + -er → splinter

(added to a verb or noun) Used to form diminutives.

From Middle English -er, -ere (diminutive suffix). Compare -el.


-er

association + -er → soccer (“association football”)

football + -er → footer (“association football”)

rugby + -er → rugger

Radcliffe + -er → Radder (“a building at Oxford University”)

(originally school slang) Used to form slang or colloquial equivalents of words.

Attested in the UK since the 19th century. Originally Rugby School slang. Later adopted by Oxford University and then wider British society.


-er

clive + -er → cliver (“apt to cleave or adhere to, tenacious, expert as seizing”)

slip + -er → slipper (“tending to make slip, slippery”)

wake + -er → waker (“tending to wake, watchful”)

(now chiefly dialectal) A suffix creating adjectives from verbs, indicating aptitude, proneness, or tendency toward a specified action:

From Middle English -er, from Old English -er, -or, from Proto-Germanic *-raz. Compare -le.


-er

Li’er said hello to his father.

Yue’er began to laugh again and her tears shimmered like dew on a lotus leaf disturbed by a breeze. Then we heard a sound. It was Man’er.

The fish was laid out on the table, but Ping’er had not come back, nor had his father.

2002 [1934], Xiao Hong, “The Field of Life and Death”, in Howard Goldblatt, transl., The Field of Life and Death & Tales of Hulan River, →ISBN, page 32:

Ying’er was not yet three years old. Li’er had always been the one to play with her or to carry her places on his back.

2014 [1959], Zhong Lihe, “The Little Ridge”, in T. M. McClellan, transl., From the Old Country: Stories and Sketches of China and Taiwan, →ISBN, page 202:

(Chinese literature) Junior, child, younger person. (Attached to a name, usually one syllable of the given name.)