-aster
a diminutive or pejorative suffix denoting something that imperfectly resembles or mimics the true thing:
criticaster; poetaster, oleaster.
-aster2
chiefly biology. a combining form with the meaning “star,” used in the formation of compound words:
diaster.
origin
-aster
suffix
a person or thing that is inferior or bears only a poor resemblance to what is specified poetaster
word origin
from latin: suffix indicating imperfect resemblance
-aster
suffix expressing incomplete resemblance (e.g. poetaster), usually dim. and deprecatory, from l., from gk. -aster, suffix originally forming nouns from verbs ending in -azein, later generalized as a pejorative suffix, e.g. patraster “he who plays the father.”
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a suffix occurring in loanwords from latin, its english distribution paralleling that of latin. the form originated as a suffix added to a- stem verbs to form adjectives (separate). the resulting form could also be used independently as a noun (advocate) and came to be used as a stem on which a verb could be […]
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-ateria suffix used to form nouns (variations: -teria or -eria or -eteria) place or establishment where the indicated thing is done or sold: bookateria/ caviarteria
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a suffix extracted from marathon, occurring as the final element in compounds which have the general sense “an event, as a sale or contest, drawn out to unusual length, often until a prearranged goal, as the contribution of a certain amount of money, is reached”: walkathon; readathon . also, -a-thon, -thon.
- -atic
suffix of the nature of the thing specified problematic word origin from french -atique, from greek -atikos