-eer

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-eer suffix repr. mostly F. -ier :- L. -ārius -ARY, and denoting ‘one who is concerned with, handles, or deals with’. In several words there were earlier vars. in -er and -ier (which was gen. replaced by -eer in XVII); charioteer and engineer go back to ME. antecedents adopted from OF. forms in -eor (mod. -eur).

Most of the sbs. have deriv. vbs., which are used particularly in the gerund and prp., e.g. electioneering, mountaineering.