[1725–35; promise + -ee]This word is first recorded in the period 1725–35. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: collapse, hairline, postmortem, roulette, viburnum-ee is a suffix forming from transitive verbs nouns which denote a person who is theobject or beneficiary of the act specified by the verb (addressee; employee; grantee); more recent formations also mark the performer of an act, with the base being anintransitive verb (escapee; returnee; standee) or, less frequently, a transitive verb (attendee) or another part of speech (absentee; refugee)