A friend of mine recently used the word masseuse to describe a person that gives massages. I have never heard of this terminology before so I'm wondering what the difference is between massager and masseuse?
To me, the -er ending makes it very obvious that it denotes "[a] person or thing that does an action indicated by the root verb; a person whose occupation is (the noun)." For instance:
- player: a person who plays
- driver: a person who drives
- songwriter: a person who writes songs
I realize sometimes there is a distinction between male and female actors (e.g. actor/actress). Other words that have different endings to indicate the person:
- assistant: a person who assists
- scientist: a person who practices science
Now with the last example, the -ist suffix denotes profession or religion, so in my case, massage therapist would also work. But what's with the word masseuse?