释义 |
-rysuffixPrimary stress is retained by the usual stressed syllable of the preceding element and vowels may be reduced accordingly. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymons: French -rie , -erie ; -ery suffix. Etymology: Partly < Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French -rie (late 12th cent. or earlier), variant (with loss of unstressed medial e ) of -erie -ery suffix, and partly a variant (showing the same loss of unstressed medial e ) of -ery suffix. Compare post-classical Latin -ria (12th cent. or earlier), variant of -eria -ery suffix.The suffix occurs chiefly after an unstressed syllable ending in /d/, /t/, /l/, /n/, or /ʃ/, often in trisyllabic words whose main stress is on the first syllable; however, in a few cases, it also occurs after stressed vowels or diphthongs. In some cases both -ery and -ry continue in use in the modern spelling variants of a word, e.g. in baptistery n., commandery n., jewellery n. Apparently attested earliest in the early 13th cent. in the French loan Jewry n. Other early instances of loans or adaptations from French are e.g. avowry n., chivalry n., hazardry n., mammetry n., sophistry n. For early formations within English compare husbandry n., harlotry n., nunry n. (compare nunnery n.), portmanry n., bawdry n.1 This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2020). < suffix |