-ee

From Middle English -ee, -ē, from Anglo-Norman and Old French -ee, French -é, -ée, endings forming past participle of verbs ending in -er. Doublet of -ate. More distantly related to inherited English -ed.

-ee (noun-forming suffix, plural -ees)

1. Added to transitive verbs to form words meaning a person or thing that is the object of that verb (i.e., to whom or to which an action is done).

   Synonym: -ed

   Antonym: -er

   ‎examine + ‎-ee → ‎examinee

   ‎interview + ‎-ee → ‎interviewee

   ‎train + ‎-ee → ‎trainee

   ‎employ + ‎-ee → ‎employee

2. (less common) Added to intransitive verbs to form words meaning a person or thing that is the subject of that verb (that is, who or that does an action).

   ‎absent + ‎-ee → ‎absentee

   ‎respond + ‎-ee → ‎respondee

   ‎stand + ‎-ee → ‎standee

   ‎post + ‎-ee → ‎postee

3. (law) Used to form words meaning a person who is the other party to a contract or other transaction involving a person described by the corresponding word ending in -or.

   Antonym: -or

   ‎assign + ‎-ee → ‎assignee

   ‎legate + ‎-ee → ‎legatee

   ‎mortgage + ‎-ee → ‎mortgagee

4. (medicine) Used to form words meaning a person who has undergone a particular medical procedure.

   ‎laryngectomy + ‎-ee → ‎laryngectomee

5. Irregularly added to nouns to mean a person somehow associated with the object denoted by the noun.

   ‎barge + ‎-ee → ‎bargee

   ‎tender + ‎-ee → ‎tenderee

   ‎venereal + ‎-ee → ‎venerealee

The translation tables below are a guide only. See individual words formed using this suffix for more precise translations.

Perhaps a variation on -ie and -y^[1]

-ee

2. Used to form diminutives.

   Synonyms: (suffixes) -cule, -el, -et, -ette, -icle, -ie, -kin, -le, -let, -ling, -ole, -ule, -y, (prefixes) mini-, micro-, nano-

   ‎boot + ‎-ee → ‎bootee

   ‎goat + ‎-ee → ‎goatee

   ‎settle + ‎-ee → ‎settee

• (diminutive affix): mini-, micro-, nano-, -ette, -y, -icle/-cule/-ule/-ole

• (antonym(s) of “diminutive affix”): super-, supra-, hyper-, ultra-, uber-, macro-, arch-, over-, mega-, giga-, -zilla, grand, great

The translation table below is a guide only. See individual words formed using this suffix for more precise translations.

Most likely derived from broken English used by Chinese immigrants to America during the 17th to 19th centuries. The -ee was added by those speakers for final consonants in English words that do not exist in Cantonese phonology.

-ee

1. (offensive, derogatory) Used in mimicking English as stereotypically spoken by the Chinese.
   • 1897, The Outlook, volume 56, page 1044:

     "No stealee. You no thinkee? Chinaman no thinkee stealee!" he said, earnestly.

   • 1938, Minnesota Journal of Education, volume 19, page 52:

     A Chinaman had a toothache, and phoned a dentist for an appointment. Doctor: "Two-thirty all right?" Chinaman: "Yes, tooth hurtee, all light. What time I come?"

• no tickee, no washee

-ee

1. Alternative form of -y (infinitive suffix).

See -ea. With vowel assimilation.

-ee (colloquial or dialectal)

1. alternative form of -ea

• Predominant type in the Tavastian and Savonian dialects. Well preserved even in urban speech.
• Used in the same way as the standard -ea: e.g. korkee "high", standard korkea.
• Especially in the Savonian dialects, shorter words with the suffix are subject to consonant gemination: pimeä > pimmee.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [e.ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [e.e]

-ee

1. vocative masculine singular of -eus

From Old Irish -igidir (whence also Irish -igh and Scottish Gaelic -ich), originally a denominative verb formative, from Proto-Celtic *-sagyetor; compare Welsh -hau.

• IPA^(key): /i/

-ee

1. Suffix used to form verbs from nouns.

• Affixed verbs ending in -ee form a sizeable number of verbs. Some monosyllabic verbs in Manx (which historically are not from affixes), however, are not a result of affixation, such as niee "to wash".

• -al

Inherited from Latin -āta.

-ee f (plural -ees)

1. forms a feminine noun indicating a quantity or content measured by what the base noun denotes, often translatable as -ful in English.

• French: -ée f

Borrowed from Latin -ēum n, from Ancient Greek -εῖον n (-eîon), originating in the substantivized neuter of -εῖος (-eîos, adjective suffix).

-ee m (plural -ees)

1. -eum (Noun-forming suffix found in words of Greek origin meaning “place or building associated with a specific purpose or person” (indicated by the root word))

   ‎prytane + ‎-ee → ‎prytanee

• French: -ée m

Borrowed from Latin -eus.

-ee m

1. ending found in male names from Greek

   Neree ― Nereus

   Persee ― Perseus

• French: -ée m

• IPA^(key): /-èː/

-ee

1. adverbializing enclitic

   hashkéhee ― in a mean or angry way

   tąądee ― slowly, leisurely, gradually, little by little

   tʼáá ádíláahee ― in an annoying manner

   tʼáá łaʼ bizhiʼee ― united, all standing together

   tʼáá naʼńleʼee ― sloppily, carelessly, roughly

   tʼáadoo yistiʼee ― freely, boldly, without hesitation

   tʼáá nanitʼinee ― secretly, covertly

   tsʼísee kehgo ― physically, carnally

-ee

1. inflection of -ear:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• -ie, -y

From Middle English -y, from Old English -iġ, from Proto-West Germanic *-g.

• IPA^(key): /-iː/

-ee

1. Added to nouns to form adjectives.