Where does “-ee” come from?

-ee (Middle French) comes from Latin -eus, from Ancient Greek -εῖος, from Proto-Indo-European -iHwós, from Proto-Indo-European -wós — Creates adjectives from verb stems.

-ee (Middle French): forms a feminine noun indicating a quantity or content measured by what the base noun denotes, often translatable as

Definitions

  1. forms a feminine noun indicating a quantity or content measured by what the base noun denotes, often translatable as

Ancestry of “-ee”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latin-eusargentum + API → argenteus; ferrum + API →...
2Ancient Greek-εῖοςForms adjectives, usually with a meaning of "of"...
3Proto-Indo-European-iHwós—
4Proto-Indo-European-wósCreates adjectives from verb stems

Words derived from “-ee”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -wós →Every word from Latin -eus →Every word from Ancient Greek -εῖος →