English

-our

Used to form abstract nouns of state, quality, or action from Latin or French roots.

    Etymology graph

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    Origin

    From Middle English -our, from Anglo-Norman -our, -ur, and Old French -or (modern -eur), from the Latin accusative suffix -ōrem, from -or. The spelling with u reflects the Anglo‐Norman raising of the Old French close‐mid vowel /o/ (which developed from the Latin long vowel /oː/) to a high‐back vowel /u/. In the United States, the spelling -or—which had coexisted as a variant since Middle English—was standardized by Noah Webster to match the original Latin form.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle English-our
      • derivedAnglo-Norman-our
        • derivedOld French-or
          • inheritedLatin-tor “-er”
            • inheritedProto-Italic*-tōr
          • inheritedLatin-or “-ness”
            • inheritedProto-Italic*-ōs

    Sources