Key Notes

  • This suffix is used in a few well-known words to mean ‘a person who does something’. Some of these nouns are related to verbs (e.g. beggar, burglar, liar) but others are not (e.g. vicar, bursar, scholar).
  • Note these words; they also end in –ar but not the suffix –ar in this article: ajar, agar, antimacassar, attar, avatar, bazaar, budgerigar, cheddar, churidar, cougar, czar, deurmekaar, fauj(i)dar, fel(d)spar, friar, fulmar, guitar, hangar, hussar, iftar, jaguar, khimar, langar, nagar, namaskar, nebuchadnezzar, sagar, sahukar, samovar, sarkar, scimitar, shikar, sitar, sugar, thekedar, thikadar, tsar, tzar, vinegar, zamindar
Origins Usage Notes Examples
From Old French –aire, –ier, or from Latin –aris Forming adjectives, especially in words containing -(u)l-, -ell- and words ending in -ula, -ula, -ulus, -ulum, especially in scientific use: of the kind specified; relating to stellar, regular, similar, linear, lunar, molecular, globular, angular, granular, pustular, popular, secular, annular, circular, auricular, fistular, capsular, cellular, corpuscular, funicular, jugular, glandular, orbicular
Forming nouns through assimilation scholar
Via Old French from Latin –are (neuter of –aris) Forming nouns: things pertaining to altar, pillar, collar
From Old French -aire, -ier, or from Latin -arius, -arium Forming nouns: things pertaining to bursar, exemplar, vicar, notar, ordinar
  Alteration of -er, -or liar, pedlar, medlar, mortar, beggar

Word Formation Resource

2 Points

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