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 ⁷ ( 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 for

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

The leader of another new Florida organization, the progressive and nonpartisan Youth Action Fund, sees Amendment 4 as a chance to excite Gen Z–ers about politics after a dispiriting few years.

From Slate

County found autistic youth were especially likely to languish in ERs amid few options for ongoing psychiatric treatment.

From Los Angeles Times

The audience ranged from witchy Highland Park Gen Z’ers to Nevada desert libertarian Boomers.

From Los Angeles Times

Last week we learned that an upside-down American flag, a treasured symbol among “Stop the Steal”–ers, was hanging outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito just days before Biden’s inauguration in January 2021.

From Slate

The ruling would also further harm people who visit ERs at higher rates due to systemic barriers to health care including those in rural areas, those who earn low-incomes, are Latinx, Black or Indigenous, or are immigrants.

From Salon