Agent noun

 ( Nouns By Type ) 

In linguistics, an agent noun (in Latin, nomen agentis) is a word that is derived from another word denoting an action, and that identifies an entity that does that action. For example, driver is an agent noun formed from the verb drive.

Usually, derived in the above definition has the strict sense attached to it in morphology, that is the derivation takes as an input a lexeme (an abstract unit of morphological analysis) and produces a new lexeme. However, the classification of into derivational morphemes (see word formation) and ones is not generally a straightforward theoretical question, and different authors can make different decisions as to the general theoretical principles of the classification as well as to the actual classification of morphemes presented in a grammar of some language (for example, of the agent noun-forming morpheme).

An agentive suffix or agentive prefix is commonly used to form an agent noun from a verb. Examples:

• English language: -er, -or, -ian, -ist
• Basque language: -le (ikasle 'student' from ikasi 'learn')
• Chinese language: out=t
• Coptic language: ⲣⲉϥ-, as in ⲣⲉϥⲙⲉⲓ (refmei 'loving person') from ⲙⲉⲓ (mei 'to love')
• Dutch language: -er, -ende, -or, -iet, -ant, -aar
• Finnish language: -ja/-jä (puhua 'speak', puhuja 'speaker'; lyödä 'hit', lyöjä 'hitter'); -uri (borrowed from '-or'/'er', probably via German)
• French language: -(t)eur (masculine); -(t)eure, See also . -(t)euse, -trice, -iste (feminine)
• Georgian: მე- ... -ე (me- ... -e), as in მებაღე (mebaghe 'gardener') from ბაღი (baghi 'garden'); otherwise the nominalization of the present participle (formed with many possible circumfixes) may occur.
• German language: -er, -ler, -ner, -or, -ör, -ist, -it, -ant, -ent (may be compounded with the feminine ending -in)
• Greek language: -ήρ, -τήρ
• Hungarian: no specific agentive suffix, the nominalization of present participle (suffix: -ó/-ő, according to vowel harmony) is used instead; examples: dolgozó ('worker'), szerelő ('repairman'), vezető ('leader', 'driver', 'electrical conductor')
• Irish language: -óir (broad), -eoir (slender), -aí (broad), -í (slender)
• Khasi language: prefix nong- or myn-, for example shad 'to dance', nongshad 'dancer'; tuh 'to steal', myntuh 'thief'
• Latin: -tor (m.) / -trix (f.) / -trum (n.) / -torius, -a, -um (adj.) as in arator / aratrix / aratrum / aratorius; -sor (m.) / -strix (f.) / -strum (n.) / -sorius, -a, -um (adj.) as in assessor / assestrix / *assestrum / assessorius; see also: -ens
• Maori: kai-
• Persian language: rtl=yes (-ande): from present roots; as in rtl=yes (gūyande; 'speaker') from rtl=yes (goftan, gūy-; to speak) / rtl=yes (-ār) : from past roots; as in rtl=yes (x^wāstār; 'wanter') from rtl=yes (x^wāstan, x^wāh-; 'to want'). / rtl=yes (-gar): from nouns; as in rtl=yes (kārgar; 'worker') from rtl=yes (kār; 'work').
• Polish language: see table
• Quechua language: -q (pukllay 'to play', pukllaq 'player')
• Russian language: -чик or -ник (m.) / -чица or -ница (f.) as in ученик 'student'; -тель (m.) / -тельница (f.) as in учитель 'teacher'
• Spanish language: -dor(a), -ero(a), -ista, -ario(a)
• Turkish language: -ci (çiçekçi 'florist' from çiçek 'flower')
• Welsh language: -wr (m.), -ores (f.)

• Agent (grammar)
• Nominalization

• italic=no, italic=yes ("Protoslavic Nomen Agentis"), Wrocław, 1975