Ender

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɛndə(ɹ)/

Definitions

1. A person or thing that brings something to a close or finishes it
2. An entity responsible for concluding an event, process, or activity
3. Something or someone that causes the termination or final point of a particular action or state

Etymology: The word is a plain formation: the verb "end" plus the agent suffix "-er", which in Middle English was spelled "-ere" and came down from Old English, where it attached to verbs to name the doer of an action. A "sweeper" sweeps, a "baker" bakes, and an "ender" is simply someone who ends something. The source also gives a second route for the same spelling. Alongside the verb-based form, an English "ender" is traced to "end" used as a noun, with the same "-er" suffix added, so the word can be read as "one connected with an end." Either way the sense stays literal and practical: a person who brings a thing to its close.

Synonyms: finalizer, terminator

Antonyms: initiator, starter