-er

marks the agent, designating persons according to their occupation, as writ er , sing er , hatt er , lead er , sometimes changed to -ar , as li ar ; with -i- or -y- prefixed, as cloth -i-er , law -y-er (where the A.S. primitive substantive ends in ȝ ); with excrescent -t or -d , as bragg -ar-t . Note that in the words auger , heifer , shelter , what looks like the suffix -er is really an independent substantive. [A.S. -ere ; Goth. -arja , Ger. -er .]