ers

¹

[urs, airs]

noun

1. ervil.

ERS

²

Or E.R.S.

1. Emergency Radio Service.

-ers

³

1. a semantically empty suffix that creates informal variations of more neutral nouns and adjectives by processes of truncation identical to those of -er (champers; preggers; starkers ); unlike that suffix, however, -ers is apparently productive, and words formed with it do not appear to belong to a restricted linguistic register, as university slang.

ERS

abbreviation

1. earnings related supplement

Word History and Origins

Origin of ERS¹

Middle French < Old Provençal < Late Latin ervus, variant of Latin ervum. See ervil

Origin of ERS²

Perhaps a conflation of -er ⁷ with the final element of bonkers and crackers in the sense “wild, crazy” (unless these words themselves contain this suffix); -s ³

Example Sentences

All those motherf***ers who are out there arresting U.S. citizens, violating habeas corpus and bending rules to enforce a police state deserve a lot more than a sandwich dumped on them.

From Salon

And just when we thought hanging out was dead, Gen Z–ers seem to have rediscovered the joy of going out with friends, pounding a marg, and eating a gut-busting quantity of food.

From Slate

David Balmer, a waste expert from ERS Remediation, told the Disclosure programme: "You're looking at the equivalent of between 80 and 100 trucks minimum running seven days a week to take this material to a facility in England or abroad."

From BBC

My experience of this ERS production is unique to the moment of my encounter.

From Los Angeles Times

Scott Shepherd, an ERS mainstay who was not only part of the ensemble but also co-directed with John Collins and served as dramaturg, introduced the proceedings in an impishly folksy manner reminiscent of the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.”

From Los Angeles Times