Repairer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual who specializes in fixing, restoring, or mending items that have been damaged or are malfunctioning
2. A person engaged in the restoration, fixing, or repairing of objects that are defective or compromised
3. A professional who focuses on restoring, fixing, or mending items that have experienced wear, damage, or malfunction

Etymology: A repairer is about as plain as English compounds get: "repair" with the agent suffix "-er" attached. The "-er" ending traces back through Middle English and Old French to Latin "-arius," which marked a person connected with a task, and the same ending gives us "baker" and "hunter." The Old English form "-ere" was already doing this job centuries before the Norman influence reshaped the vocabulary. The more interesting history lies in the verb it is built on. "Repair" came into English from Old French "repairer," which descends from Latin "repatriare," meaning to return to one's country. Its earliest senses in English were about going back or returning somewhere, and only later did it take on the sense of putting something right again. The idea of restoring an object to its former state is therefore a semantic extension: the thing is sent back toward what it was before.

Synonyms: fixer, mender