Prattler

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpɹætələ(ɹ)/

Definitions

1. Someone who speaks at length about unimportant or trivial matters in a casual or informal manner
2. An individual who engages in continuous, light, and often meaningless chatter
3. A person characterized by frequent, inconsequential talking without serious content

Etymology: "Prattler" is simply "prattle" with the agent suffix "-er" added, meaning one who prattles. "Prattle" is a much older word, so the interest lies in the suffix. The "-er" ending has passed into English through several branches: an Old English form "-ere," which descends from a Proto-West Germanic and ultimately Proto-Germanic ancestor, and a separate strand through Old French "-ier" from Latin "-arius," which English adopted as "-er" in Middle English. Two roots thus merged into one familiar ending, which is why so many English agent nouns, from "baker" to "writer," end the same way. The suffix's ancestry reaches back to Latin "-arius," a marker of a person connected with something, which Latin used in forms like "scriba" becoming "scribarius." English ended up with the same ending through both native and French routes, so "prattler" is built from a Germanic-origin suffix that the language had already been reinforcing for centuries.

Synonyms: chatterer, babble, blabber, gabbler

Antonyms: listener, quiet