# Grammarians: What Is The proper name for this Word Ending?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammarians-what-is-the-proper-name-for-this-word-ending/459248>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 8, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammarians-what-is-the-proper-name-for-this-word-ending/459248 "2008-08-08T01:15:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammarians-what-is-the-proper-name-for-this-word-ending/459248/1 "2008-08-08T01:15:57Z")

</div>

I’m talking about the endings of nouns: “-er” AND -“EE”; AS IN “EMPLOYER” AND EMPLOYEE". It seems a rarely used construction in English-we don’t commonly use it in nouns like “eat” (eater and eatee?).  
Anyway, is there a name for this? Where did it come from?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammarians-what-is-the-proper-name-for-this-word-ending/459248/2 "2008-08-08T01:29:35Z")

</div>

Noun Suffix.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammarians-what-is-the-proper-name-for-this-word-ending/459248/3 "2008-08-08T02:00:29Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=ralph124c]  
It seems a rarely used construction in English-we don’t commonly use it in nouns like “eat” (eater and eatee?).  
[/QUOTE]

Because it’s common for people to be either an employer or an employee. Perhaps if we lived in a cannibalistic society, “eater” and “eatee” would be common.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammarians-what-is-the-proper-name-for-this-word-ending/459248/4 "2008-08-08T02:01:23Z")

</div>

-er is an agent suffix.  
I’m not sure what -ee is.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammarians-what-is-the-proper-name-for-this-word-ending/459248/5 "2008-08-08T02:44:00Z")

</div>

-ee can be either an agent suffix or a beneficiary suffix.