Monday 14 November 2011

ee, by gum

Today, more for interest than instruction, we're looking at words ending in -ee such as employee.

These come to us from French (-é, -ée) and/or Latin and usually refer to people. (exception: guarantee!)

an employee is someone who is employed
a divorcee is someone who is divorced
an addressee is someone to whom a letter or package has been addressed
a retiree is someone who has retired
a trainee is someone who is being trained
an amputee is someone who has had something amputated

Are you seeing a pattern here? the -ed past participle.

These words are often used in a legal or financial context
licensee who has been licensed to sell alcohol
lessee who has leased a property
trustee who has been trusted to handle the finances of, say, a charity
payee to whom a cheque will be paid to



a fiancé or fiancée has come to us more recently from French and still has the ´acute accent and the extra e for feminine. The first is the man and the second the woman. They can be pronounced fee-on-say or fee-on-see



Can you think of any other -ee words?

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