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er

[uh, er]

Example Sentences Origin

interjection

(used to express or represent a pause, hesitation, uncertainty, etc.).

Can be confused: er, err, ur-, Ur.

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Er is always a great word to know.

So is bezoar. Does it mean:

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

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Example Sentences

Aft er reading the story, use the blackline master on p.

Hate to say it, but this mystery will nev er be fully solved even if the body is exhumed and examined.

T7 to rate their knowledge of key concept vocabulary before and aft er they read the story.

EXPAND

Dictionary.com Unabridged

efficiency report.

emergency room.

Symbol, Chemistry.

erbium.

a suffix used in forming nouns designating persons from the object of their occupation or labor (hatter; tiler; tinner; moonshiner), or from their place of origin or abode (Icelander; southerner; villager), or designating either persons or things from some special characteristic or circumstance (six-footer; three-master; teetotaler; fiver; tenner).

a suffix serving as the regular English formative of agent nouns, being attached to verbs of any origin (bearer; creeper; employer; harvester; teacher; theorizer).

Compare -ier¹, -yer.

Origin:
Middle English -er(e), a coalescence of Old English -ere agentive suffix (cognate with Old High German -āri, Gothic -areis < Germanic *-arjaz (> Slavic *-arĭ) < Latin -ārius -ary) and Old English -ware forming nouns of ethnic or residential orig. (as Rōmware Romans), cognate with Old High German -āri < Germanic *-warioz people

a noun suffix occurring in loanwords from French in the Middle English period, most often names of occupations (archer; butcher; butler; carpenter; grocer; mariner; officer), but also other nouns (corner; danger; primer). Some historical instances of this suffix, as in banker or gardener, where the base is a recognizable modern English word, are now indistinguishable from denominal formations with -er¹, as miller or potter.

Origin:
Middle English < Anglo-French -er, equivalent to Old French -er, -ier < Latin -ārius, -ārium. Compare -ary, -eer, -ier²

a termination of nouns denoting action or process: dinner; rejoinder; remainder; trover.

Origin:
< French, orig. infinitive suffix -er, -re

a suffix regularly used in forming the comparative degree of adjectives: harder; smaller.

Origin:
Middle English -er(e), -re, Old English -ra, -re; cognate with German -er

a suffix regularly used in forming the comparative degree of adverbs: faster.

Origin:
Middle English -er(e), -re, Old English -or; cognate with Old High German -or, German -er

a formal element appearing in verbs having frequentative meaning: flicker; flutter; shiver; shudder.

Origin:
Middle English; Old English -r-; cognate with German -(e)r-

a suffix that creates informal or jocular mutations of more neutral words, which are typically clipped to a single syllable if polysyllabic, before application of the suffix, and which sometimes undergo other phonetic alterations: bed-sitter; footer; fresher; rugger. Most words formed thus have been limited to English public-school and university slang; few, if any, have become current in North America, with the exception of soccer, which has also lost its earlier informal character.

Compare -ers.

Origin:
probably modeled on nonagentive uses of -er¹; said to have first become current in University College, Oxford, 1875–80

East Riding (Yorkshire).

East River (New York City).

King Edward. Origin:
< Neo-Latin Edwardus Rex

Queen Elizabeth. Origin:
< Neo-Latin Elizabeth Regina

emergency room.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To er

Collins

World English Dictionary

er¹ (ə, ɜː)

—*interj*
	a sound made when hesitating in speech

er²

—*the internet domain name for*
	Eritrea

Er

—*the chemical symbol for*
	erbium

ER

—*abbreviation for*
1.	(in the US) Emergency Room (in hospitals)
2.	Elizabeth Regina
3.	Eduardus Rex

[Latin: Queen Elizabeth]

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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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

-er

suffix used to make jocular or familiar formations from common or proper names (soccer being one), first attested 1860s, English schoolboy slang, "Introduced from Rugby School into Oxford University slang, orig. at University College, in Michaelmas Term, 1875" [OED, with unusual precision].

EXPAND

as a sound of hesitation or uncertainty, attested from mid-19c.

COLLAPSE

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

Er
The symbol for the element erbium.

ER abbr.
endoplasmic reticulum

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

Er
The symbol for erbium.

erbium (ûr'bē-əm) Pronunciation Key
Symbol Er
A soft, silvery, metallic element of the lanthanide series. It is used as a neutron absorber in nuclear technology and in light amplification for fiber-optic telecommunications. Atomic number 68; atomic weight 167.26; melting point 1,497°C; boiling point 2,900°C; specific gravity 9.051; valence 3. See Periodic Table.

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

ER definition

Entity-Relationship

er definition

networking
The country code for Eritrea.
(1999-01-27)

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

Er
erbium

emergency room
endoplasmic reticulum
Eritrea (international vehicle ID)

Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia

(Er), chemical element, rare-earth metal of the lanthanoid series of the periodic table. Erbium is a grayish silver element that also occurs as a series of pink compounds. It had limited commercial uses until the age of fibre-optic telecommunications, when it became an important constituent of the signal repeaters in long-distance telephone cables.

Learn more about Er with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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