| a suffix forming nouns that denote persons who regularly engage in an activity, or who are characterized in a certain way, as indicated by the stem; now usually pejorative: coward; dullard; drunkard; wizard. |
| -ard or -art suff. One that habitually or excessively is in a specified condition or performs a specified action: drunkard. [Middle English, from Old French, of Germanic origin; see kar- in Indo-European roots.] |
