nomen agentisn.
/ˌnəʊmɛn əˈdʒɛntɪs/, /ˌnəʊmən əˈdʒɛntɪs/, U.S. /ˈˌnoʊm(ə)n əˈdʒɛn(t)ɪs/ Grammar.
An agent noun; a word or phrase that functions as an agent noun.
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the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > noun > [noun] > other specific types of noun
increaser1612
regulara1637
energizer1751
agent noun1782
nomen actionis1820
segolate1831
class noun1849
patrial1854
nomen agentis1859
metaplast1864
agent word1879
post-genitive1922
conversion-noun1928
noun adjective1930
head noun1933
relatum1933
actant1967
class name1994
1859 W. Wright tr. C. P. Caspari Gram. Arab. Lang. I. 124 The verbal adjectives, derived from the first form of the triliteral verb, have two principal forms, namely, the nomen agentis..and the nomen patientis.
1876 J. H. McIlvaine Elocution 278 There are several exceptions to this rule, as where the following syllable is any of the verbal endings..of the nomen agentis.
1928 C. Bergener Contrib. Study Conversion of Adjs. into Nouns ii. 18 When a nomen agentis is contrasted with an absolute past participle of the corresponding verb (as in..the tortured does not salute her torturers).
1966 Eng. Stud. 47 53 This is an old trait in Germanic where the pres. participles had the character and regimen of nomina agentis.
1992 H. Kuhn in C. Blank Lang. & Civilization I. 614 A large and unproblematic group are English loanwords ending in -er..as both German and Danish have a large number of nomina agentis with a similar ending.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1859