teur

Teur is a productive suffix in French used to form masculine agent nouns from verbs, corresponding roughly to the English -tor or -er. It derives from Latin -tor and is common in modern French, where many verbs can take -teur to yield a noun naming the person who performs the action or, in some cases, the instrument that performs it.

Common examples include créateur (creator) from créer, inventeur (inventor) from inventer, conducteur (driver or conductor) from conduire, lecteur (reader) from lire, and acteur (actor) from acte. The suffix helps form a wide range of occupational or functional nouns, especially in technical, administrative, and everyday vocabulary.

Feminine forms of -teur nouns typically involve -trice or -teuse, though there are notable irregularities. For example, directeur becomes directrice, inventeur becomes inventrice, and lecteur becomes lectrice. In some words, other feminine endings are standard, such as actrice for acteur, illustrating that the feminine form does not always follow a single consistent pattern. Some -teur nouns also spread to denote devices or tools, not just people, such as capteur (sensor) or lecteur (reader device), where the meaning centers on the function of the thing rather than a person.

Overall, -teur is a key French suffix for creating agent nouns with broad applicability across domains, while its exact gender and meaning can vary, reflecting the language’s flexible morphology and historical conventions.