-ier
suffix forming nouns a variant of
-eer:
brigadier.
[from Old English -ere -er1 or (in some words) from Old French -ier, from Latin -ārius -ary]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
-ier1
, var. of
-er 1 , usu. in nouns designating trades:
collier; clothier; furrier; glazier.[Middle English
-ier(e), variant of
-yer(e) (compare
-yer)]
-ier2
, a noun suffix occurring mainly in loanwords from French, often similar in meaning to
-eer, with which it is etymologically identical (
brigadier; financier); it is also found in an older group of loanwords with stress on the initial syllable (
barrier; courier) and in more recent borrowings without the final
r sound (
dossier; hotelier).
[< French, Old French < Latin]
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