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    -euse
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    -euse /'ø.zə/ is a stress-bearing non-native cohering suffix found in nouns of common gender, usually the feminine counterparts of agent nouns based on the suffix eur, e.g. masseuse female masseur (cf. masseur masseur). There are also a few instrument names in -euse, without a corresponding formation in -eur, e.g. friteuse deep frying pan and tondeuse clippers, that are loans from French. Plurals are formed with -s.

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    -euse /'ø.zə/ is a non-native suffix found in nouns of common gender, selecting the definite singular article de. -euse formations are the feminine counterparts of agent nouns based on the non-native suffix -eur. The suffix competes with -rice that also corresponds to the suffix -eur (and -or), but where the stem shows allomorphy, resulting in sequences (a)teur and (a)tor.

    extra

    Alternatively, De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 209, 211) suggest that the suffixes -(-at)eur and -(at)or are best analyzed as combinations of the affixes -at (which does not occur independently, and does not have a clear contribution to the semantics) and -eur and -or, respectively.

    Cases such as aborteuse female abortionist are not counterexamples to this generalization, as t is part of the stem here. Some forms in -eur such as amateur amateur have no female form at all. Various forms in -euse may be direct loans from French.
    extra

    De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 212) note that the forms ambassadrice female embassador (rather than *ambassadeuse), enquêtrice female investigator (instead of *enquêteuse), and rapportrice female rapporteur (and not *rapporteuse) are exceptional. ingenieure female engineer is the only word in which Germanic -e is attached to the non-native suffix -eur.

    There are a few object names in -euse (without a corresponding form in -eur) such as friteuse deep frying pan (a recent loan from French, cf. Etymologiebank) and the nineteenth century loans tondeuse clippers (cf. Etymologiebank) and gazeuse soda drink (that started as an adjective limonade gazeuse lemonade gassified, cf. Etymologiebank) (Van der Sijs 2010).

    The suffix is stress-bearing (stress on the first syllable of the suffix) and cohering: syllabification does not respect the morphological structure (aborteuse abort-euse /a.bɔr.'tø.zə/). Forms in -euse do occur as righthand parts of nominal compounds (sportmasseuse female sports masseur) but not as lefthand parts, and they cannot be input to further derivational processes: even diminutive formation (predictably with the allomorph -tje) is rare. Plural forms are in -s: masseuses female masseurs, friteuses deep frying pans.

    References
    • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
    • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
    • Sijs, Nicoline van der2010Etymologiebank, http://etymologiebank.nl/
    About this article
    Author(s): Ton van der Wouden
    Category: Dutch Morphology
    Keywords: suffixnon-nativefeminine
    Version: 1.0, December 2015
    Version history:
    version editor(s) date remarks
    1.0 Ton van der Wouden December 2015
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