[1580–90; target + -eer]This word is first recorded in the period 1580–90. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: critical, humanist, piggyback, reference, stigma-eer is a noun-forming suffix occurring originally in loanwords from French (buccaneer; mutineer; pioneer) and productive in the formation of English nouns denoting persons who produce, handle,or are otherwise significantly associated with the referent of the base word (auctioneer; engineer; mountaineer; pamphleteer); now frequently pejorative (profiteer; racketeer)