| a noun-forming suffix occurring originally in loanwords from French (buccaneer; mutineer; pioneer) and productive in the formation of English nouns denoting persons who produce, handle, or are otherwise significantly associated with the referent of the base word (auctioneer; engineer; mountaineer; pamphleteer); now frequently pejorative (profiteer; racketeer). Compare -ary, -er 2 , -ier 2 . |
| -eer suff. One associated with, concerned with, or engaged in: balladeer. [French -ier, from Old French, from Latin -ārius, -ary.] |
