Commenters

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Persons who give their insights or reactions to online materials
2. People who contribute their thoughts or critiques regarding shared content
3. People who provide their thoughts or feedback on online posts or discussions

Etymology: "Commenters" is the plural of "commenter", which is simply "comment" with the agent suffix "-er" attached, meaning one who comments. The suffix itself has a long pedigree: it descends from Proto-Indo-European through Latin "-arius", which passed into Old French as "-ier" and then into Middle English as "-er". Old English already had a form "-ere" in the same job, so English speakers have been building person-nouns this way for centuries. The noun "comment" arrived earlier and came from Latin "commentum", meaning an invention or contrivance, a sense that has nearly vanished from modern use. Its everyday meaning, a remark or observation, developed from the idea of setting something down in writing. The newer word "commenter" is a modern formation, built on the older root to name the people who now fill comment sections, forums and feedback threads.

Synonyms: commentator, reviewer, critic