-ster

From Middle English -ster, -estere, from Old English -estre (“-ster”, feminine agent suffix), from Proto-Germanic *-istrijǭ, *-astrijǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *-is-ter- (suffix). Cognate with Old High German -astria, Middle Low German -ester, Dutch -ster.

-ster

1. Someone who is, or who is associated with, or who does something specified.
2. (humorous, sometimes offensive) A diminutive appended to a person's name.
   • 1992, Russell Baker, "Observer; Pretty Good Read" (review of What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer), New York Times, 25 Jul.,

     Cramer's exploration of the hearts, minds and souls of America's ambition-crazed Presidential candidates moves ahead at a pace that feels childishly frantic . . . . This is not just because it keeps referring to Senator Robert Dole as "the Bobster."

• Relatively uncommon for agent nouns, compared to more usual -er and -or; primarily used for single-syllable words. Also informal, particularly in contemporary productive use – compare hipster, scenester, bankster; older terms such as barrister do not have this casual connotation, however.
• Sometimes used in proper names, e.g. Napster (file-sharing software), Blockster (Brandon Block, disc jockey).

• -er
• -or

• Baxter
• dumpster
• huckster
• spinster
• teamster

• 'rest, ERTs, REST, Rest., SERT, erst, rest, rest., rets, tres

From Middle Dutch -ster, cognate with Middle Low German -ster, Old English -estre, Old High German -astria. Perhaps also merging with Vulgar Latin -istria, borrowed from Ancient Greek -ιστρια (-istria).[1]

-ster f

1. female equivalent of -er