-ard
a suffix forming nouns that denote persons who regularly engage in an activity, or who are characterized in a certain way, as indicated by the stem; now usually pejorative:
coward; dullard; drunkard; wizard.
also, -art.
-ard
suffix
indicating a person who does something, esp to excess, or is characterized by a certain quality braggart, drunkard, dullard
word origin
via old french from germanic -hard (literally: hardy, bold), the final element in many germanic masculine names, such as bernhard bernard, gerhart gerard, etc
-ard
also -art, from o.fr. -ard, -art, from ger. -hard, -hart “hardy,” often forming the second element in personal names, used as an intensifier, but in m.h.g. and du. used as a pejorative element in common nouns, and thus p-ssing into m.e. in b-st-rd, coward, etc. it thus became a living element in english, e.g. buzzard, drunkard.
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