Suffixes with agent meaning “-er” and “-or” and their etymology

Abstract

The article describes suffixation of English noun, etymological characteristics of suffix “-er” and “-or”, the description of its meaning, combinability of the suffixes with the other stems. Affixes can be treated as a way to enlarge the word stock of any language. Suffixes play a great role in the benefication of the vocabulary, they can change not only the word meaning but also the fact that it belongs to another part of speech. Etymology reveals the origin of the suffix, its correlation to the other suffixes from relative languages. The word meanings can be changed with time, and this phenomenon also differentiates the suffixes and their meaning. As an example the two noun-forming suffixes were taken for a research.