alphabetizer
- noun
- /ˈælfəˌbɛtaɪzər/
- Specialized
- She worked as an alphabetizer for a large database of client names.
Examples
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The librarian acted as the alphabetizer, ensuring all the books were in order.
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An alphabetizer can help organize your files.
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Every contest entry was checked by an alphabetizer before the results were announced.
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She is a skilled alphabetizer for the library.
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As an alphabetizer, she spent hours organizing the library's books by author.
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The alphabetizer helped the teacher sort the students' names for the attendance list.
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In her role as an alphabetizer, he was responsible for arranging the files in the office alphabetically.
Surface Forms
Morphology
alphabetizer = alphabetize (transparent) = alphabet + ize + er
The agentive suffix '-er' is added to the verb 'alphabetize' to form a person or tool that performs the action, a regular and transparent derivation.
Etymology
Alphabetizer comes from alphabet, which itself comes from the names alpha and beta and means the set of 'letters' in order. The ending -er means 'one who', as in 'printer' or 'player'. So an alphabetizer is a person who puts items into 'alphabetical' order.