Meanings
-ee1
plural -ees
- lawUsed 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.
legate + -ee → legatee
2 more examples
assign + -ee → assignee
mortgage + -ee → mortgagee
Antonyms: -or
- Irregularly added to nouns to mean a person somehow associated with the object denoted by the noun.
barge + -ee → bargee
2 more examples
tender + -ee → tenderee
venereal + -ee → venerealee
-ee2
-ee3
- derogatoryoffensiveUsed in mimicking English as stereotypically spoken by the Chinese.
"No stealee. You no thinkee? Chinaman no thinkee stealee!" he said, earnestly.
1897, The Outlook, volume 56, page 10441 more example
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?"
1938, Minnesota Journal of Education, volume 19, page 52
-ee4
- alternativeAlternative form of -y (infinitive suffix).
Synonyms & antonyms
suffixAdded 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).
suffixUsed 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.
suffixUsed to form diminutives.
antonym(s) of “diminutive affix”
Origin
-ee · suffix
- French-é
- Old French-ee
- Middle English-ee
- English-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.
More words from Middle English, Old French, French
Full word history & related roots →-ee · suffix
Most likely derived from the rudimentary English used by Chinese immigrants to America during the 17th to 19th centuries. The ee (/iː/) sound would be added by those speakers to “cushion” the final consonants of English words so as to make them sound more euphonic and be easier to speak, which is naturally done also by native speakers of highly syllabic languages (such as Italian, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese). Phenomenon explanation Vowels following consonants is the default (or natural) state of human speech, with Modern English being an outlier at that. Compare child-directed words—such as Daddy, blankie, doggy and horsy—which end with the /iː/ vowel too and arise naturally from children's rudimentary, developing pronunciations of the corresponding consonant-final words (Dad, hors(e) etc.), following the same principle described above.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Esperanto -ato
- -atoforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
Finnish -tu
- -tuforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
French -é, -ée
- -éforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
- -éeforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
- -eurforming words meaning a person who or a thing that does an action, especially where a passive sense of the verb is implied
- -euseforming words meaning a person who or a thing that does an action, especially where a passive sense of the verb is implied
German -e, -es
- -eforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
- -esforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
- -enforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
- -eforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
Hungarian -cska, -cske
- -cskaused to form diminutives
- -cskeused to form diminutives
Irish -aí, -aí
- -aílaw: forming words meaning a person who is the other party to a contract
- -aíforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
- -aíforming words meaning a person who or a thing that does an action, especially where a passive sense of the verb is implied
Italian -ato, -ata
- -atoforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
- -ataforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
- -toreforming words meaning a person who or a thing that does an action, especially where a passive sense of the verb is implied
- -triceforming words meaning a person who or a thing that does an action, especially where a passive sense of the verb is implied
- -ettoused to form diminutives
- -inoused to form diminutives
Japanese 被
- 被 (hi-)forming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
Spanish -ado, -ada
- -adoforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
- -adaforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
Welsh -ai
- -aiforming words meaning a person to whom or a thing to which an action is done
Cite this entry
-ee. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ee
“-ee.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ee. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “-ee,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ee.
Source: -ee on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.