-ier

suffix forming personal nouns denoting an occupation or interest:
1 with stress on the preceding element (grazier).
2 with stress on the suffix (cashier; brigadier).
Etymology: sense 1 ME of various orig.; sense 2 F -ier f. L -arius

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I.

— see -er II

II.

comparative of -y

III. \\|i(ə)r, |iə\ noun suffix (-s)

Etymology: Middle French — more at -eer

: person belonging to, connected with, or engaged in

cashier

gondolier

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-ier¹

var. of -er¹, usually in nouns designating trades: collier; clothier; furrier; glazier.

[ME -ier(e), var. of -yer(e) (cf. -YER), equiv. to -i- v. stem ending + -ere -ER¹, prob. reinforced by OF -ier < L -arius -ARY (cf. SOLDIER)]

-ier²

a noun suffix occurring mainly in loanwords from French, often simply a spelling variant of -eer, with which it is etymologically identical (bombardier; brigadier; financier; grenadier); it is also found on an older and semantically more diverse group of loanwords that have stress on the initial syllable (barrier; courier; courtier; terrier). Recent loanwords from French may maintain the modern French pronunciation with loss of the final r sound (croupier; dossier; hotelier).

[ < F, OF < L -arius, -aria, -arium -ARY; cf. -AIRE, -EER, -ER²]

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-ier /-ēr or -i-ər/

suffix

Forming nouns denoting an occupation or interest in a specified area, as in bombardier, chocolatier

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suffix forming personal nouns denoting an occupation or interest

1) pronounced with stress on the preceding element

glazier

Origin:

Middle English: variant of -er I

2) pronounced with stress on the final element

brigadier | cashier

•

Origin:

from French -ier, from Latin -arius

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— see ↑-er, 2

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-ier

a suffix forming nouns designating position, employment, or profession, derived from ns., rarely agent-nouns from vbs., (1) in words of ME. age, in which the suffix is unstressed, and varies (or has varied) with -yer, as collier, bowyer, (2) in words of later date (since 16th c.), in which the suffix is stressed, and varies with -eer¹, as bombardier, cashier, cannoneer (-ier), financier.

1. In words of ME. age, the suffix is of obscure and app. of diverse origin. Among the earliest examples are cottier (cotier), tilier, and bowyer: the first is a. OF. cotier = med.L. cotārius, and its retention of -ier is remarkable, because OF. -ier normally became -er in AFr. and Eng., as in butler, draper, farmer (see -er² 2); tiliere (1250–1400), ‘tiller, cultivator’, appears to be an analogical formation on OE. tilia, early ME. tilie, on the analogy of such pairs as OE. hunta, ME. huntere, since the etymological formation would have been tilere; for bowyer (1297 bowiare, a 1450 bowȝere, bowyere), the suggestion has been made that the i, y, represents the ȝ of ME. boȝe, bow; but this is doubtful. Other examples are collier (15th c. koliere, cholier, colyer, etc.), lawyer 1362 (but also, a 1400, lawer), lockyer (1407 lokier), brazier (1400–50 brasier, brasyere), hellier, hillyer (15th c. helier, helyer, hillyer), spurrier a 1450, halyer 1479 (haulyer 1577), grazier c 1500. Of glazier (a 1400), clothier, hosier, sawyer (a 1500), farrier, pavier, -iour (16th c.), there exist as early (in some cases earlier) forms in -er; courier, cozier, furrier, are 16th c. forms altered from ME. or OF. agent-nouns in -our; drovier, glosier, kiddier, are 16th c. variants of drover, gloser, kidder; lovier a late vulgarism for lover. In other words, as carrier, courtier, currier, soldier, the suffix is really -er (or earlier -our), the i belonging to the Eng. or F. vb. stem. (See also -iour.)

2. In words of later introduction, the suffix is the F. -ier (:—L. -ārius: see -ary). The earlier of these, as bombardier, cannonier (-eer), cashier, cavalier, chevalier, halberdier, harquebusier, date from 16th c.; others, as brigadier, carabinier (-eer), cuirassier, financier, fusilier, gondolier, grenadier, from 17th or 18th c. Some, as cordelier, have taken the place of an earlier form in -er, which goes back to ME. Many of these also occur with the spelling -eer, expressing the English pronunciation; in some this spelling has been established, and from them -eer¹ has become a living English suffix, as in auctioneer, charioteer, pamphleteer.