Where does “-yer” come from?

-yer (English) comes from Middle English -iere, from Old French -ier, from Latin -ārius, from Proto-Italic *-āzios — Forms relational adjectives to nouns (and rarely numerals).

-yer (English): Agent suffix, equivalent to -er, appended to some...

Definitions

  1. Agent suffix, equivalent to -er, appended to some...

Ancestry of “-yer”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle English-iereer
2Old French-iersuffix used to form infinitives of first...
3Latin-āriuser
4Proto-Italic*-āziosForms relational adjectives to nouns (and rarely numerals)
Every word from Proto-Italic *-āzios →Every word from Latin -ārius →Every word from Old French -ier →