# -ery

> English word · Suffix · IPA /əɹi/

## Definitions
1. Added to occupational etc. nouns to form other nouns meaning the "art, craft, or practice of."
2. Added to verbs to form nouns meaning "place of" (an art, craft, or practice).
3. Added to nouns to form other nouns meaning "a class, group, or collection of."
4. Added to nouns to form other nouns meaning "behavior characteristic of."

## Etymology
From Middle English -erie, from Anglo-Norman -erie, which is from -ier + -ie; a suffix forming abstract nouns.
The suffix first occurs in loans from Old French into Middle English, but becomes productive within English by the 16th century, in some instances properly a combination of the agent suffix -er with -y as in bakery, brewery, but also as a single suffix in terms like slavery, machinery (which are not derived from slaver or machiner). By surface analysis, -er + -y.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/ery