-eur

¹

1. a suffix occurring in loanwords from French, usually agent nouns formed from verbs (entrepreneur; voyeur ), less commonly adjectives (agent provocateur ).

Eur.

²

abbreviation

1. Europe.

2. European.

eur-

combining form

1. a variant of euro-

Word History and Origins

Origin of eur-¹

< French; Old French -o ( u ) r < Latin -ōr- -or ² and -eo ( u ) r < Latin -ātōr- -ator; -tor

Example Sentences

The results represent the successful completion of a project funded by the European Research Council with a Consolidator Grant of EUR 2.4 million.

From Science Daily

Germany for example, has pledged over EUR 40 billion to support those affected by coal phase-out.

From Science Daily

A new study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, shows that these emissions caused pollution corresponding to socio-economic costs of more than EUR 680 million between 2014 and 2022.

From Science Daily

According to the calculations, the majority of the shipping companies that invested in scrubbers have already reached break even, and the total surplus by the end of 2022 for all of the 3,800 vessels, was EUR 4.7 billion.

From Science Daily

As for the costs associated with the degradation of marine ecosystems, the study shows that between the years 2014 and 2022, scrubber water discharges have polluted at a cost of over EUR 680 million in the Baltic Sea area.

From Science Daily

When To Use

What does -eur mean?

The form -eur is a suffix that marks an agent noun or, occasionally, an adjective in loanwords from French. Agent nouns are nouns that indicate a person who does an action. Broadly speaking, then, -eur means "doer." The suffix -eur is relatively common in both everyday and technical terms.The suffix -eur ultimately comes from the Latin -or or -ator, which was used to indicate agent nouns.An equivalent of -eur in words from English is the suffix -er, as in singer (someone who sings).What are variants of -eur?When agent nouns ending in -eur are used to refer to a feminine-gendered element, -eur becomes -euse, as in chanteuse (a female singer). Although -eur is a masculine-gendered ending for agent nouns, it is often (though not always) preferred over -euse as the default in English, regardless of the subject’s gender.Want to know more? Read our Words That Use -euse article.