One that is associated with, participates in, makes, or does: 后缀，做事的人：与…有关的人、参加…的人、制做…的人或做事的人： songster. 歌唱家
One that is: 是…的人： youngster. 年轻人
语源
Middle English 中古英语
from Old English -estre [female agent suff] 源自 古英语 -estre [后缀，代表女性]
-ster
suffix forming nouns
indicating a person who is engaged in a certain activity
⇒prankster
⇒songster Compare-stress
indicating a person associated with or being something specified
⇒mobster
⇒youngster
Origin
Old English -estre
-ster
Word Origin
1
a suffix used in forming nouns, often derogatory, referring especially to occupation, habit, or association:
gamester; songster; trickster.
Origin
Middle English;Old English-estre; cognate with Dutch-ster, Middle Low German -(e)ster
Related Words
dabster
deemster
doomster
dopester
dragster
funster
-stera suffix creating agent nouns usually from nouns, as in songster, gamester, trickster, youngster, roadster.
[Middle English; Old English -estre, -istre, related to Dutch -ster, Middle Low German -(e)ster]
Usage: The Old English suffix created feminine agentive nouns from verbs. Later these forms became associated with trade occupations which were largely for women, such as seamster. Related to this is spinster. In modern formations, as gamester, trickster, etc., it is a suffix attached to nouns as a mild put-down, this humour deriving from the trade association. It is also used in conjunction with the definite article to provide an affectionate variant of personal names, as in Steven becoming the Stevester.
-ster noun combining form
ETYMOLOGY Middle English, from Old English -estre female agent; akin to Middle Dutch -ster
1. one that does or handles or operates spinster tapster teamster 2. one that makes or uses songster 3. one that is associated with or participates in gamester gangster 4. one that is youngster
-ster
/stə(r)/
suffix
1.
denoting a person engaged in or associated with a particular activity or thing
表示“做…的人”, “从事…的人”：
maltster
songster.
2.
denoting a person having a particular quality
表示“处于…状态的人”, “有…品质的人”：
youngster.
词源
Old English -estre, -istre, etc., of Germanic origin.
-ster, suffixForms: 1 -istræ, -estre, later -ystre, -istre, 2–4 -estre, 4–5 -estir, 5 -ister, 4–7 -star(e, 4–5 -estere, -stere, 4– -ster.[Corresponding to MLG. -(e)ster, (M)Du. and mod.Fris.-ster, it represents a WGer. type -strjōn-, forming feminine agent-nouns, prob. a derivative of the OTeut.-stro- forming nouns of action, as in ON.bakstrmasc., act of baking, OHG.galstar neut., incantation.The existence of the suffix is not attested for High German, OS. or OFris.; the supposed examples sometimes cited, OHG.wagastria lance, agalastra (OS.agastria) magpie, OS.hamstra marmot, ramestra some plant, are very doubtful; even if the suffix be formally identical with the agential suffix, it has not the same function. In Du.-ster regularly forms feminine agent-nouns corresponding to masculines in -er, e.g.schrijfsterfem. of schrijver a writer. In MLG., and in mod.Fris., although most of the nouns in -ster are fem., several occur as masc., e.g.MLG.bedriegster deceiver, NFris. grewster gravedigger, wäwster weaver.In the original types of the formation the suffix was prob. preceded by the thematic vowel of the word to which it was attached, thus becoming -astrjōn-, -istrjōn, ? -ustrjōn-. In the historical forms, however, there is no evidence of this (unless in the OE.byrdistræ: see below); in Du. and Fris. the suffix is -ster without prefixed vowel; in MLG. usually -ster, sometimes -ester, app. merely for euphony. In OE. it is -estre, which does not produce umlaut, though it is often added to a stem containing an umlaut-vowel.]In OE.-estre was freely used to form fem. agent-nouns, in exactly the same manner in which -ere (-er1) was used to form masc. agent-nouns. Thus it was appended to the pres.-stems of verbs, as in lǽrestre female teacher, hoppestre female dancer, and to certain monosyllabic nouns of action as in sangestre songstress, séamestre sempstress, lybbestre female poisoner or witch. In a few instances fem. agent-nouns were formed by the substitution of -estre for the masc. suffix -a (:—-jon-), as in bigengestrefem. of bigenga cultivator, worshipper, webestre (webster) beside webbe as fem. of webba weaver. Lattéow, leader, functionally an agent-n. though without agential suffix, gave rise to a fem.lættewestre. An anomalous formation is huntiᵹestre (instead of *huntestre) huntress which occurs once as a variant reading for hunticge.In OE. the suffix may be said to have retained its original function, for the few instances in which it is used as a masculine are renderings of Latin designations of men exercising functions which among the English were peculiar to women, as byrdistræ embroiderer (gl. blaciarius, primicularius), bæcestre baker (gl. pistor), séamestre tailor (gl. sartor), wæscestre washer (gl. fullo).In northern ME., however, perh. owing to the frequent adoption by men of trades like weaving, baking, tailoring, etc., the suffix came very early to be used, indiscriminately with -er1, as an agential ending irrespective of gender; thus in the Cursor Mundi (a 1300) demestre(see dempster) appears instead of demere (deemer), a judge, bemestre instead of bemer a trumpeter. It is probable that -ster was often preferred to -er as more unambiguously referring to the holder of a professional function, as distinguished from the doer of an occasional act. In Scotland, baxter and webster survived as masculines down to the 19th c. The only word of this formation that in Scotland has remained exclusively feminine is sewster.In the south the suffix continued to be predominantly feminine throughout the ME. period. The OE. formations, baxter, seamster, tapster, were in southern English usually feminine before 1500; many new designations of occupation, originally feminine, arose in ME. as bellringestre, hordestre treasurer (Winteney Rule St. Benet, 13th c.), hotestrefem. of hotere commander (Ayenbite), brewster, dyester, litster, throwster, huckster; also spinster, which alone of the group has survived (though with change of sense) solely as a feminine. A few feminines in -estere were formed to correspond to masculines in -er(e of French origin: fruitestere, tumbestere, tumblestere, wafrestere. As a feminine suffix of purely agential import, -ster was in the 14th c. still used for new formations by some writers, but was generally replaced by the French -eresse. Thus MS. Bodl. 277 of the Wyclif Bible has chesister, daunster, dwelster, weilster, where other copies have cheseresse, daunseresse (leperesse), dwelleresse, weileresse.From the 16th c. onwards the older words in -ster, so far as they survived, have been regarded as masculines, and several of them have given rise to feminines in -ess, as backstress, seamstress, songstress, huckstress. In the modern English period the suffix has been very productive, but it is doubtful whether any of the new formations are really derived from verbs; in every instance in which this would be formally possible there is a n. of the same form as the vb., and the derivative is (in present feeling at least) associated rather with the n. than the vb. so in gamester, rhymester (late 16th c.), drugster (1611; but cf.druggister), and the much later dabster, jokester, punster, trickster, tipster. The formation here imitates that of trade designations; hence the disparaging sense, e.g. in rhymester, jokester, as compared with rhymer, joker. An anomalous use is that in rubster (17th c.) something used to rub with.In the 16th c. two formations on adjs. occur: youngster (after which oldster was formed later) and lewdster.
-ster
Old English -istre, from Proto-Germanic *-istrijon, feminine agent suffix used as the equivalent of masculine -ere (see -er(1)). Also used in Middle English to form nouns of action (meaning "a person who ...") without regard for gender.The genderless agent noun use apparently was a broader application of the original feminine suffix, beginning in the north of England, but linguists disagree over whether this indicates female domination of weaving and baking trades, as represented in surnames such as Webster, Baxter, Brewster, etc. (though spinster probably carries an originally female ending). Also whitester "one who bleaches cloth." In Modern English, the suffix has been productive in forming derivative nouns (gamester, punster, etc.).
-ster
person:
mobster, monster
-ster/stə/suffix.
ORIGIN: Repr. Old English-istræ, -istre, -estre, corresp. to Middle Low German-(e)ster, Middle Dutch-ster, from Germanic.
Forming nouns from nouns or adjectives (formerly also from verbs) denoting a person (orig. a woman) engaged in or associated with a particular activity, esp. as an occupation or profession (cf. -er1), as brewster, maltster, spinster, tapster, etc., or denoting a person associated with a particular quality, as oldster, youngster, etc.; occas. derog., as in jokester, rhymester, trickster, etc.
-ster
suffix.
a person who _____s: Trickster = a person who tricks.
a person who makes or handles _____: Rhymester = a person who makes rhymes.
a person who is _____: Youngster = a person who is young.
special meanings, as in gangster, roadster, teamster.
[Middle English -estre, a feminine agent suffix, Old English -istre,-estre a feminine suffix]
ster.
sterling.
-ster \stə(r), following a vȯiced consonant, as in “mobster”, -ztə- or -stə-\noun suffix (-s) Etymology: Middle English -ster, -stere, -estere, from Old English -estre female agent; akin to Middle Dutch -ster 1.: one that does or handles or operates < spinster > < tapster > < teamster > 2.: one that makes or uses < songster > < punster > 3.: one that is associated with or participates in < gamester > < gangster >
-ster
Suffix
Someone who is, or who is associated with, or who does something specified.
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."
Etymology
From Middle English-ster, -estere, from Old English-estre (“-ster”, feminine agent suffix), from Proto-Germanic*-istrijǭ, *-astrijǭ, from Proto-Indo-European*-is-ter- (suffix). Cognate with Old High German-astria, Middle Low German-ester, Dutch-ster.
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).