Picketer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual who demonstrates publicly, often outside a workplace or event, holding signs to express grievances or demands
2. Someone who participates in protests by standing in a specific location to advocate for change or convey opposition
3. A person engaged in picketing by visibly displaying signs or messages to support a cause or object to an action

Etymology: The word is a plain formation: "picket" plus the agent suffix "-er," meaning one who does the action. The "-er" ending has a long pedigree, passing from Latin "-arius" through Old French "-ier" into Middle English "-er," and its older Germanic form "-ere" descends from the same Latin source, so the suffix arrived in English by two routes at once. The base word "picket" is the more interesting part of the story. It originally referred to a pointed stake driven into the ground, which gave the sense of a post used to fence or mark a boundary and, later, a small group of soldiers posted as a guard. Labour sense developed from the idea of a group stationed at the edge of a workplace to watch and hold a line, so a picketer is literally someone posted at that boundary.

Synonyms: protester, demonstrator, marcher