Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “dropper” come from?

Dropper comes from English drop plus the suffix -er, which derives from Old French -er, from Latin -āre (infinitive marker), ultimately from Proto-Italic -os.

dropper (English): A utensil for dispensing a single drop of liquid...

Definitions

  1. A utensil for dispensing a single drop of liquid...

Ancestry of “dropper”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishdropA small quantity of liquid, just large enough to...
2Middle Englishdroppen—
3Old Englishdropianto drop
4Old English-ianForms verbs from nouns and adjectives
5Old English-ōjan—
6Proto-West Germanic-ōnCreates denominative verbs from nouns; Creates...
7Proto-Germanic-ōnąCreates denominative verbs from nouns; Creates...
8Proto-Indo-European-eh₂yétiCreates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive...
9Proto-Indo-European-yétiCreates intransitive, often deponent,...
10Proto-Indo-Europeanyé-—
11Chichewaiyehe, she

Words derived from “dropper”

  • eyedropper
  • dropperful
  • namedropper
  • microdropper
Every word from Chichewa iye →