Agent noun


In linguistics, an agent noun 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 and produces a new lexeme. However, the classification of morphemes into derivational morphemes and inflectional 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.

Words related to agent noun

An agentive suffix or agentive prefix is commonly used to form an agent noun from a verb. Examples:
  • English: -er, -or, -ian, -ist
  • Basque: -le
  • Chinese: p=-zhě
  • Coptic: ⲣⲉϥ-, as in ⲣⲉϥⲙⲉⲓ from ⲙⲉⲓ
  • Dutch: -er, -ende, -or, -iet, -ant, -aar
  • Finnish: -ja/-jä ; -uri
  • French: -eur ; -eure, -euse, -trice, -iste
  • Georgian: მე-... -ე, as in მებაღე from ბაღი ; otherwise the nominalization of the present participle may occur.
  • German: -er, -ler, -ner, -or, -ör, -ist, -it, -ant, -ent
  • Greek: -ήρ, -τήρ
  • Hungarian: no specific agentive suffix, the nominalization of present participle is used instead; examples: dolgozó, szerelő, vezető
  • Irish: -óir, -eoir, -aí, -í
  • Khasi: prefix nong- or myn-, for example shad 'to dance', nongshad 'dancer'; tuh 'to steal', myntuh 'thief'
  • Latin: -tor / -trix / -trum / -torius, -a, -um as in arator / aratrix / aratrum / aratorius; -sor / -strix / -strum / -sorius, -a, -um as in assessor / assestrix / *assestrum / assessorius; see also: -ens
  • Maori: kai-
  • Persian: : from present roots; as in from / : from past roots; as in from . / : from nouns; as in from .
  • Polish: see table
  • Quechua: -q
  • Russian: -чик or -ник / -чица or -ница as in ученик 'student'; -тель / -тельница as in учитель 'teacher'
  • Spanish: -dor, -ero, -ista, -ario
  • Turkish: -ci
  • Welsh: -wr, -ores