-aster
-aster
1a diminutive or pejorative suffix denoting something that imperfectly resembles or mimics the true thing: criticaster; poetaster, oleaster.
Origin:
< Latin
< Latin
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To -aster
00:10
-aster
is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
| -aster | |
| —suffix forming nouns | |
| a person or thing that is inferior or bears only a poor resemblance to what is specified: poetaster | |
| [from Latin: suffix indicating imperfect resemblance] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
-aster
suffix expressing incomplete resemblance (e.g. poetaster), usually dim. and deprecatory, from L., from Gk. -aster, suffix originally forming nouns from verbs ending in -azein, later generalized as a pejorative suffix, e.g. patraster "he who plays the father."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Cite This Source
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