Affixes

The original is found in German words such as Bürgermeister, a mayor, and kapellmeister (German Kapelle, court orchestra), the leader or conductor of an orchestra or choir. Modern terms in ‑meister are American in origin, derived from German under the influence of Yiddish. A well-established example is schlockmeister (Yiddish shlog, wretch, untidy person), someone who sells cheap or trashy goods; a less common one is webmeister, a person who runs a World Wide Web site, a webmaster. The form is also used to make transient terms, sometimes mildly derogatory: gagmeister, pornmeister, talkmeister (a radio talk-show host).