-ter

DEFINITION of -ter

forms nouns: instrument, device

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ETYMOLOGY of -ter

greek

Component	Origin	Meaning
-ter	Greek -τήρ (-tēr)	Noun-forming suffix — “instrument,” “device,” “one who” — agentive/instrumental suffix denoting a tool or implement

The suffix entered English in the 1600s as part of catheter (noun), borrowed from French cathéter, from Late Latin catheter, from Greek καθητήρ (kathētēr) — literally “that which flows down” (from kath-hesthai “to sit down, flow down”). The root -tēr (“instrument, agent”) connects -ter to the entire agentive and instrumental suffixes: catheter (kath- + tēr $\to$ instrument for draining or channeling fluid), sotera (sō- + tēr $\to$ instrument of salvation/relief), and stethotactic (steth- + taktikos $\to$ pertaining to auscultation). The instrumental suffix -ter appears in a limited set of medical and technical terms: e.g., catheter, sotera, thermistor (cf. -istor), and spherometer (cf. -eter variant).

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RELATED TERMS to -ter

-ter	instrument	device	-
-ment	YES	-	agent
-or	YES	-	agent

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DERIVATIONS of -ter

TABLE definition AS Definition 
WHERE length(filter(roots, (word) => econtains([[]].roots, word))) > 0 AND file.name != [[]].file.name
SORT file.name ASC

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Query

TABLE definition AS Definition
FROM #medroot
WHERE length(filter(definition, (word) => econtains([[]].definition, word))) > 0 AND file.name != [[]].file.name

Med terms dictionary