What suffixes are used to indicate jobs?

Question

What suffixes are used to indicate jobs? Please provide examples.

Answer 1

Common sufixes:

Taken from "Sufijos nominales en español", from Lucie Rossowová's Master Thesis, p. 30:

Noun suffixes denoting the "agent" of the action:

• -ero/-era (cocinero / cocinera)
• -dor/-dora (cazador / cazadora)
• -ante (cantante)
• -ista (deportista)

We could add some other examples (some of them may be "allomorphs" of another one):

• -or/-ora (captor / captora)       (may be allomorph with -dor)
• -or/-triz (actor / actriz)
• -in/-ina (bailarín / bailarina)

Derived from a masculine substantive:

• -isa (poeta → poetisa; sacerdote → sacerdotisa)       (is only used with feminine nouns)

Some roots take more than one suffix in order to "build" different meanings:

• -ante (cantante)
• -or (cantor)       (used at least in Chile to name a folklorist)

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Regional variations:

• Andalusism:
  • -aor/-aora (bailaor / bailaora; cantaor / cantaora)       (in most cases is just the -dor suffix with its 'd' dropped.)

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Not directly related to jobs:

• -logo/-loga (podólogo / podóloga; entomólogo / entomóloga)
  • This suffix relates to people who study or practice a science. As a side effect, they work on that field, but the suffix's main aim is not to emphasize the work done.
• -atra (pediatra; psiquiatra)
  • Someone who heals using some field of the medical science.