Sticker

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈstɪkə/

Definitions

1. A small piece of paper or plastic with adhesive on one side used for decoration or information ; a person who demands an excessive price for goods or services
2. An object with a sticky back that can be attached to surfaces for identification or decoration ; someone known for setting prices above the usual rate
3. A label that can be stuck onto items for display or instruction ; an individual who applies steep pricing often seen as unreasonable

Etymology: The sticker is named for what it does: it "sticks." The word combines "stick," from Old English "stician" (to pierce, to be fastened, to adhere), with the suffix "-er," which marks a thing or person that performs an action. So a sticker is literally something that sticks, much like a "poster" is something that posts or a "printer" something that prints. The root "stick" itself traces back through Germanic to an ancient Indo-European base meaning to pierce, which explains why the verb's older senses involved jabbing and fixing things in place before it came to mean adhering. The surprise is how far the root's original sense has travelled. A word that once described something driven through, such as a spike or pin, now names a small sheet of paper or plastic coated in adhesive. The verb "stick" held onto the sense of being fastened fast, and the agent suffix then turned that action into an object.

Synonyms: label, tag, adhesive, decoration, emblem

Antonyms: remover, detacher