Marker

How to spell marker

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce marker

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does marker mean?

1. nounA pen with a broad felt or fibre tip that writes in thick, bold ink.
2. nounAn object or sign that shows a position, boundary, or point of reference.
3. nounA person who reads and assigns grades to examinations or written work.

Marker in a sentence

• She labelled each box with a black marker before the move.

• A small stone marker showed where the old footpath began.

• Each marker graded a hundred exam scripts that weekend.

• The teacher squeaked a red marker across the whiteboard.

• The surveyor placed a marker at each corner of the plot.

• The exam board trained every marker to apply the same standard.

Where does marker come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word 'mark' descends from the Old English 'mearc', which meant a boundary, a border, or a visible sign, and it has solid Germanic roots shared with words across the old North Sea languages. In its earliest sense a mark was literally the edge of a territory, a meaning that survives in place names and in the title 'marquess', the lord of a border march. Over time 'mark' broadened to mean any visible trace, stamp, or token, and English then added the productive suffix '-er', which turns a verb into the person or instrument that performs the action. By this route 'marker' came to name anything that makes or leaves a mark, from a boundary stone to a felt-tipped pen, and also the person who marks or grades work. The spelling is refreshingly regular, with the only small trap being the unstressed '-er' ending that some writers briefly wonder about.

How the word is built

• mark (a sign or trace)
• -er (agent/instrument suffix: one that or thing that marks)