-erei

German

Etymology

From Middle High German -erīe, from Old French -erie. The suffix first became productive in German to designate workshops pertaining to occupation names ending in -er, such as Bäckerei (“bakery”) from Bäcker (“baker”). These cases are more properly analyzed as derivations in -ei from the occupation name. Later on, -erei began to be freely attached to verb stems, autonomously from agent nouns. Compare e.g. Bäckerei above with Backerei (“baking”) derived directly from backen (“to bake”). Similar developments took place in Dutch -erij and, to a lesser degree, English -ery.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈʁaɪ̯/ (Germany)

• Audio:

  (file)

  (Germany)

• IPA^(key): /ɐˈʁaɪ̯/, [-ʁaɛ̯] (Austria, Southern Germany, Switzerland)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Suffix

-erei f (genitive -erei, plural (rare) -ereien)

1. Used to form verbal nouns, which often have an informal, frequentative and/or negative overtone.

   Synonym: ge-

   ‎warten (“to wait”) + ‎-erei → ‎Warterei (“[lengthy] waiting”)

   ‎singen (“to sing”) + ‎-erei → ‎Singerei (“[unpleasant] singing”)

Usage notes

• This suffix is of virtually unlimited productivity in colloquial German.
• Verbs whose stems end in -er or -el use the simple suffix -ei instead:

quengeln (“to whine”) — Quengelei (“whining”)

Declension

Declension of -erei [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	-erei	die	-ereien1
genitive	einer	der	-erei	der	-ereien1
dative	einer	der	-erei	den	-ereien1
accusative	eine	die	-erei	die	-ereien1

¹Rare.

Derived terms

German terms suffixed with -erei

Abgötterei

Angeberei

Angstmacherei

Arschkriecherei

Augenauswischerei

Augenwischerei

Balgerei

Bleicherei

Brennerei

Buchbinderei

Bücherei

Dichterei

Dieberei

Druckerei

Durchstecherei

Ehebrecherei

Fantasterei

Feuerwerkerei

Fischerei

Fliegerei

Freigeisterei

Fremdwörterei

Fresserei

Gasterei

Geldmacherei

Gießerei

Glaserei

Hämmerei

Heimlichtuerei

Hexerei

Hinterherräumerei

Hurerei

Jägerei

Jammerei

Juristerei

Kaffeesatzleserei

Karawanserei

Käserei

Keilerei

Kerzenzieherei

Kleinstaaterei

Kocherei

Küsserei

Länderei

Leckerei

Lobhudelei

Lügerei

Molkerei

Patzerei

Phantasterei

Plackerei

Prahlerei

Quälerei

Rackerei

Raserei

Räuberei

Raucherei

Räucherei

Rauferei

Rosinenpickerei

Sauerei

Sauferei

Scheißerei

Schererei

Schießerei

Schinderei

Schufterei

Schurkerei

Schwärmerei

Schwarzbrennerei

Schwarzfahrerei

Schwarzmalerei

Schwarzseherei

Schweinerei

Sklaverei

Sterndeuterei

Stickerei

Streiterei

Strickerei

Täuscherei

Töpferei

Träumerei

Treterei

Trickserei

Trinkerei

Trittbrettfahrerei

Trügerei

Tschickerei

Verräterei

Vielweiberei

Warterei

Wäscherei

Weberei

Wüterei

Zimmerei

Zuhälterei

See also

• -ei

Further reading

• “-erei”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)
• “-erei” in Duden online

Italian

Etymology

From -er- + -ei.

• -er- is the reduced form of the Italian infinitive endings -are and -ere.
• -ei stems from Vulgar Latin hĕbui / (h)ĕ(bu)i, from classical Latin habuī, first-person singular perfect of habeō.

The Italian conditional mood stems from a Vulgar Latin periphrastic verb form consisting of infinitive + perfect of habere. Example: Italian loderei (“I would praise”) stems from Vulgar Latin laudare + hĕbui.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eˈrɛj/
• Rhymes: -ɛj
• Hyphenation: -e‧rèi

Suffix

-erei (non-lemma form of verb-forming suffix)

1. used with a stem to form the first-person singular conditional of regular -are and -ere verbs

See also Italian grammar, section Conditional mood in the English Wikipedia.

Related terms

Verb affix +	Historic	→ Conditional
-er-, -ir- +	-ei	-erei, -irei
	-esti	-eresti, -iresti
	-ebbe	-erebbe, -irebbe
	-emmo	-eremmo, -iremmo
	-este	-ereste, -ireste
	-ebbero	-erebbero, -irebbero

Anagrams

• -iere