Etymology

reader

read·er
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Today it means: A person who reads. Full definition →

Middle English reder ← Old English rēdere ← Proto-West Germanic *rādāri
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*rādāri
  2. Old English · inherited fromrēdere
  3. Middle English · inherited fromreder
  4. English todayreader

From Middle English reder, redar, redere, redare, from Old English rēdere, rǣdere (“a reader; scholar; diviner”), from Proto-West Germanic *rādāri, equivalent to read + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Räider (“advisor”), Dutch rader (“advisor”), German Rater (“advisor”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.