-ster

See also: ster, stêr, and Stèr

English

Etymology

From Middle English -estere, -ester, from Old English -estre (“-ster”, feminine agent suffix), from Proto-West Germanic *-astrijā, of disputed origin. Cognate with Middle Low German -ester, Dutch -ster.

Suffix

-ster

1. Someone who is, or who is associated with, or who does something specified.
2. (humorous, sometimes offensive) A diminutive appended to a person's name.
   • 1992, Russell Baker, "Observer; Pretty Good Read" (review of What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer), New York Times, 25 Jul.,

     Cramer's exploration of the hearts, minds and souls of America's ambition-crazed Presidential candidates moves ahead at a pace that feels childishly frantic . . . . This is not just because it keeps referring to Senator Robert Dole as "the Bobster."

   • 2023 April 21, John Crace, “Psycho goes down raging: the liberal wokerati finally get to Raab”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     “Never better,” the Raabster spat back. “Just get on with it. What’s the score?”

Usage notes

• Relatively uncommon for agent nouns, compared to more usual -er and -or; primarily used for single-syllable words. Also informal, particularly in contemporary productive use – compare hipster, scenester, bankster; older terms such as barrister do not have this casual connotation, however.
• Sometimes used in proper names, e.g. Napster (file-sharing software), Blockster (Brandon Block, disc jockey)
• In older words, used as a suffix for jobs that were held by women, e.g., webster (“female webber, or weaver”), baxter (“female baker”), spinster (“female spinner”), brewster (“female brewer”).

Synonyms

• -er
• -or

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -ster

• Baxter
• dumpster
• huckster
• spinster
• teamster
• youngster

Anagrams

• Rest., 'rest, rest., REST, ERTs, rets, erst, rest, tres, RETs, TERs, SERT, estr-, -estr-

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch -ster, from Old Dutch *-istra, from Proto-West Germanic *-astrijā; cognate with Middle Low German -ester, Old English -estre. Perhaps also merging with Vulgar Latin -istria, borrowed from Ancient Greek -ιστρια (-istria).

Suffix

-ster f

1. female equivalent of -er

Derived terms

Dutch terms suffixed with -ster

Middle English

Suffix

-ster

1. Alternative form of -estere