-ery meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

-ery

suffix

/əɹi/

Etymology From Middle English -erie, from Anglo-Norman -erie, which is from -ier + -ie; a suffix forming abstract nouns. The suffix first occurs in loans from Old French into Middle English, but becomes productive within English by the 16th century, in some instances properly a combination of the agent suffix -er with -y as in bakery, brewery, but also as a single suffix in terms like slavery, machinery (which are not derived from slaver or machiner). By surface analysis, -er + -y.

Morpheme Added to occupational etc. nouns to form other nouns meaning the "art, craft, or practice of."

midwife + -ery → midwifery
cook + -ery → cookery

Morpheme Added to verbs to form nouns meaning "place of" (an art, craft, or practice).

bake + -ery → bakery
distill + -ery → distillery

1 more example

join + -ery → joinery

Morpheme Added to nouns to form other nouns meaning "a class, group, or collection of."

crock + -ery → crockery
hose + -ery → hosiery

1 more example

shrub + -ery → shrubbery

Morpheme Added to nouns to form other nouns meaning "behavior characteristic of."

snob + -ery → snobbery
tomfool + -ery → tomfoolery

Synonyms: -ing, -age

-ery

suffix

Etymology Alteration of -y.

Morpheme, Rare Forming adjectives.

My neighbors’ children play with me. / They come for me to ease their woes, / Bleedery stumpings of the toes, / Splinters in fingers, at whose base / Angels have left their kissery trace; / Skinned elbows and such bruisery rings, / Or bumpery dots from wood bees’ stings.1917, The Christian Advocate, volume XCII, New York, N.Y., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 559, column 1: