linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, an agent noun (in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, ) 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 A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...

''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 A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms ta ...

(an abstract unit of morphological analysis) and produces a new lexeme. However, the classification of

morpheme A morpheme is any of the smallest meaningful constituents within a linguistic expression and particularly within a word. Many words are themselves standalone morphemes, while other words contain multiple morphemes; in linguistic terminology, this ...

s into derivational morphemes (see

word formation In linguistics, word formation is an ambiguous term that can refer to either: * the processes through which words can change (i.e. morphology), or * the creation of new lexemes in a particular language Morphological A common method of word form ...

) and

inflection In linguistic Morphology (linguistics), morphology, inflection (less commonly, inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical category, grammatical categories such as grammatical tense, ...

al 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 Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

(for example, of the agent noun-forming morpheme).

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 Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

: ( 'student' from 'learn') * Chinese: zh, t=⋯者, p=-zhě, labels=no, out=t * Coptic: , as in ⲣⲉϥⲙⲉⲓ (refmei 'loving person') from ⲙⲉⲓ (mei 'to love') * Dutch: , , , , , * Finnish: / ( 'speak', 'speaker'; 'hit', 'hitter'); (borrowed from '-or'/'er', probably via German) * French: ( m.); , See also wikt:fr:-eure. , , ( f.) * Georgian: - ... - (), as in ( 'gardener') from ( 'garden'); otherwise the

nominalization In linguistics, nominalization or nominalisation, also known as nouning, is the use of a word that is not a noun (e.g., a verb, an adjective or an adverb) as a noun, or as the head (linguistics), head of a noun phrase. This change in functional c ...

of the

present participle In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adject ...

(formed with many possible circumfixes) may occur. * German: , , , , , , , , (may be compounded with the feminine ending ) * Greek: , * Hungarian: no specific agentive suffix, the

(suffix: , according to

vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is a phonological rule in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – must share certain distinctive features (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, meaning tha ...

) is used instead; examples: ('worker'), ('repairman'), ('leader', 'driver', 'electrical conductor') * Irish: -óir (broad), -eoir (slender), -aí (broad), -í (slender) * Khasi: prefix or , for example 'to dance', 'dancer'; 'to steal', 'thief' *

: (m.) / (f.) / (n.) / , , (adj.) as in / / / ; (m.) / (f.) / (n.) / , , (adj.) as in / / / ; see also: * Maori: * Persian: (): from present roots; as in (; 'speaker') from (; to speak) / () : from past roots; as in (; 'wanter') from (; 'to want'). / (): from nouns; as in (; 'worker') from (; 'work'). * Polish: see table * Quechua: ( 'to play', 'player') * Russian: or (m.) / or (f.) as in 'student'; (m.) / (f.) as in 'teacher' * Spanish: , , , * Turkish: ( 'florist' from 'flower') * Welsh: (m.), (f.)

Words related to agent noun

See also

References

External links

Further reading