Online Etymology Dictionary

'em: M.E., now taken as an abbreviation of them, but originally a form of hem, dative and accusative of the third person plural pronoun.
-ean: variant of -an after names ending in -ea, -es, -eus.
-ectomy: "surgical removal," from Gk. -ektomia "a cutting out of," from ektemnein "to cut out," from ek "out" + temnein "to cut" (see tome).
-ed: pp. suffix of weak verbs, from O.E. -ed, -ad, -od (leveled to -ed in M.E.), from P.Gmc. *-do-, from PIE *-to- (cf. Gk. -tos, L. -tus). Originally fully pronounced, as still in beloved (which, with blessed, accursed, and a few others retains the full pronunciation through liturgical readings). In 16c.-18c. often written -t when so pronounced (usually after a consonant or short vowel), and still so where a long vowel in the stem is short in the pp. (crept, slept, etc.). In some older words both forms exist, with different shades of meaning, cf. gilded/gilt, burned/burnt.
-ee: in legal English (and in imitation of it), represents the Anglo-Fr. -é ending of pps. used as nouns. As these sometimes were coupled with agent nouns in -or, the two suffixes came to be used as a pair to denote the initiator and the recipient of an action.
-een: Anglicized form of Fr. -in, -ine, ultimately from L. -inus -ina.
-eer: Anglicized form of Fr. -ier, from L. -arius, -iarius.
-eme: in linguistics, noted as an active suffix and word-formation element from 1953; from Fr. -ème "unit, sound," from phonème (see phoneme).
-emia: medical suffix, "condition of the blood," from comb. form of Gk. haima (gen. haimatos) "blood," possibly from PIE base *sai- "thick liquid."
-en (1): suffix forming verbs (e.g. darken, weaken), from adjectives or from nouns, from O.E. -nian, from P.Gmc. *-inojan. Mostly active in M.E.
-en (2): suffix added to nouns to produce adjectives meaning “made of, of the nature of” (e.g. golden, oaken), corresponding to L. -ine. Common in O.E. and M.E., surviving words with it now are largely discarded in everyday use and the simple form of the noun serves as an adjective as well.
-ence: see -ance.
-ent: suffix forming adjectives from nouns or verbs, from Fr. -ent, from L. -entem, pp. ending of verbs in -ere/-ire. O.Fr. changed many to -ant but after c.1500 some of these in English were changed back to what was supposed to be correct Latin.
-er (1): English agent noun ending, corresponding to L. -or. In native words it represents O.E. -ere (O.Northumbrian also -are) "man who has to do with," from W.Gmc. *-ari (cf. Ger. -er, Swed. -are, Dan. -ere), from P.Gmc. *-arjoz. Some believe this root is identical with, and perhaps a borrowing of, Latin -arius. In words of Latin origin, verbs derived from pp. stems of Latin ones (including most verbs in -ate) usually take the Latin ending -or, as do Latin verbs that passed through French (e.g. governor), but there are many exceptions (eraser, laborer, promoter, deserter, sailor, bachelor), some of which were conformed from L. to Eng. in late M.E. The use of -or and -ee in legal language (e.g. lessor/lessee) to distinguish actors and recipients of action has given the -or ending a tinge of professionalism, and this makes it useful in doubling words that have both a professional and non-professional sense (e.g. advisor/adviser, conductor/conducter, incubator/incubater, elevator/elevater).
-er (2): comparative suffix, from O.E. -ra, -re, from P.Gmc. *-izon, *-ozon (cf. Goth. -iza, O.S. -iro, O.N. -ri), originally also with umlaut change in stem, but this was mostly lost in O.E. by historical times and has now vanished (except better and elder).
-er (3): suffix used to make jocular or familiar formations from common or proper names (soccer being one), first attested 1860s, English schoolboy slang, "Introduced from Rugby School into Oxford University slang, orig. at University College, in Michaelmas Term, 1875" [OED, with unusual precision].
-ery: suffix forming nouns meaning "place for, art of, condition of, quantity of," from M.E. -erie, from L. -arius.
-ese: suffix from O.Fr. -eis (modern Fr. -ois, -ais), from V.L., from L. -ensem "belonging to" or "originating in."
-esque: Fr. -esque "like, in the manner of," from It. -esco, like M.L. -iscus from a Germanic source (cf. O.H.G. -isc, Ger. -isch, English -ish (see -ish).
-ess: fem. suffix, from Fr. -esse, from L.L. -issa, from Gk. -issa (cognate with O.E. fem. agent suffix -icge); rare in classical Gk., but more common later, in diakonissa "deaconess" and other Church terms picked up by Latin.
-etic: suffix meaning "pertaining to," from Gk. -etikos, adj. suffix for nouns ending in -esis.
-ette: dim. formation, from O.Fr. -ette (fem.), used indiscriminately in O.Fr. with masc. form -et. As a general rule, older words borrowed from Fr. have -et in Eng., while ones taken in since 17c. have -ette. In use with native words since 20c., especially among persons who coin new product names, who tend to give it a sense of "imitation." Also in words like sermonette, which, OED remarks, "can scarcely be said to be in good use, though often met with in newspapers."
e'en: variant spelling of even, now archaic or poetic.
e'er: variant spelling of ever, now archaic or poetic.
e-commerce: by 1998, from electronic (cf. e-mail) + commerce.
e-mail: 1982, short for electronic mail (1977; see mail (1)); this led to the contemptuous application of snail mail (1983) to the old system.
E. coli: "bacteria inhabiting the gut of man and animals," short for Escherichia coli, from Ger. physician Theodor Escherich (1857-1911) + L. gen. of colon "colon."
e.g.: L. exempli gratia "for the sake of example."
e.t.a.: abbreviation of estimated time (of) arrival, first attested 1939.
ea: the usual O.E. word for "river, running water;" still in use in Lancashire.
each: O.E. ælc "ever alike," from a "ever" + gelic "alike." Similar compounds are found in other Gmc. languages (cf. Du. elk, O.Fris. ellik). Originally used as we now use every (which is a compound of each) or all; modern use is by infl. of L. quisque. Modern spelling appeared late 1500s.
each other: reciprocal pronoun, originally in late O.E. a phrase, with each as the subject and other inflected (as it were "each to other," "each from other," etc.).
eager: c.1300, from O.Fr. aigre, from V.L. *acrus, from L. acer (gen. acris) "keen, sharp" (see acrid). The Eng. word kept an alternative meaning of "pungent, sharp-edged" till 19c. (e.g. Shakespeare's "The bitter clamour of two eager tongues," in "Richard II"). Related: Eagerly; eagerness.
eagle: mid-14c., from O.Fr. egle, from O.Prov. aigla, from L. aquila "black eagle," fem. of aquilus "dark colored" (bird). The native term was erne. Golf score sense is first recorded 1922. The figurative eagle-eyed is attested from c.1600.
Eames: 1946, type of modern office chair, named for U.S. architect and designer Charles Eames (1907-1978).
ear (1): "organ of hearing," O.E. eare, from P.Gmc. *auzon (cf. Dan. øre, Ger. Ohr, Goth. auso), from PIE *aus- with a sense of "perception" (cf. Gk. aus, L. auris, Lith. ausis, O.C.S. ucho, O.Ir. au "ear," Avestan usi "the two ears"). The belief that itching or burning ears means someone is talking about you is mentioned in Pliny's "Natural History" (77 C.E.). Until at least the 1880s, even some medical men still believed piercing the ear lobes improved one's eyesight. Meaning "handle of a pitcher" is mid-15c. To be wet behind the ears "naive" is implied from 1914. Phrase walls have ears attested from 1620. Ear-bash (v.) is Australian slang (1944) for "to talk inordinately" (to someone).
ear (2): "grain part of corn," from O.E. ear (W.Saxon), æher (Northumbrian) "spike, ear of grain," from P.Gmc. *akhaz (gen. *akhizaz), from PIE base *ak- "sharp, pointed" (cf. L. acus "husk of corn;" see acrid).
earache: 1789, from ear (1) + ache.
eardrum: 1640s, from ear (1) + drum.
earful: "a piece of one's mind," 1917, from ear (1) + -ful.
earl: O.E. eorl "nobleman, warrior" (contrasted with ceorl "churl"), from P.Gmc. *erlo-z, of uncertain origin. In Anglo-Saxon poetry, "a warrior, a brave man;" in later O.E., a Danish under-king (equivalent of O.N. jarl), then one of the viceroys under the Danish dynasty in England. After 1066 adopted as the equivalent of L. comes (see count (n.)).
earldom: early 12c., from earl + -dom.
earlobe: 1859, from ear (1) + lobe.
early: O.E. ærlice, from ær "soon, ere" (from P.Gmc. *airiz, from PIE *ayer- "day, morning") + -lice "-ly," adverbial suffix (see -ly (2)). The early bird of the proverb is from 1670s. Related: Earlier; earliest.
earmark: 1520s, from ear (1) + mark (1). Originally a cut or mark in the ear of sheep and cattle, serving as a sign of ownership; first recorded 1570s in figurative sense. Related: Earmarked.
earn: O.E. earnian "get a reward for labor," from W.Gmc. *aznojanan, from *aznu "work, labor" (cf. O.H.G. aran, Ger. Ernte "harvest," Goth. asans "harvest, summer," O.N. önn "work in the field"). Related to O.E. esne "serf." Related: Earned; earning.
earnest: O.E. eornoste (adj.) from a noun eornost "passion, zeal" (surviving only in the phrase in earnest), from P.Gmc. *ern "vigor, briskness" (cf. O.H.G. arnust "struggle," Goth. arniba "safely," O.N. jarna "fight, combat") The proper name Ernest (lit. "resolute") is from the same root. Related: Earnestly; earnestness.
earnings: amount of money one makes (from labor or investment), 1732, from plural of verbal noun earning (see earn).
earring: O.E. earhring, from ear + hring (see ring (n.)). Now including any sort of ornament in the ear; the pendants were originally ear-drops (1720).
"The two groups which had formerly a near monopoly on male earrings were Gypsies and sailors. Both has the usual traditions about eyesight [see ear (1)], but it was also said that sailors' earrings would save them from drowning, while others argued that should a sailor be drowned and washed up on some foreign shore, his gold earrings would pay for a proper Christian burial." ["Dictionary of English Folklore"]
earshot: c.1600, from ear (1) + shot.