a suffix forming from transitive verbs nouns which denote a person who is the object or beneficiary of the act specified by the verb ( addressee; employee; grantee ); recent formations now also mark the performer of an act, with the base being an intransitive verb ( escapee; returnee; standee ) or, less frequently, a transitive verb ( attendee ) or another part of speech ( absentee; refugee ).
[ -é, (masc.), -ée (fem.), ptp. endings -atus, -ata -ATE 1 ]