interviewee

the word 'interviewee' is a modern english formation built upon the older noun 'interview'. 'interview' itself entered english from french, carrying the sense of a mutual seeing or meeting between parties. the suffix '-ee', of legal anglo-french origin, is productively attached to verbs to indicate the one who undergoes or receives the action. therefore, the literal construction is "the one who is interviewed," directly and logically extending the core meaning of 'interview' to specify the recipient role. this pattern parallels other agent nouns like 'employee' or 'trainee', systematically marking the object of the verb's action.

Structure: interview + ee - interview: from french 'entrevoir' (to see each other, to glimpse), from latin 'inter-' (between, mutual) + 'vidēre' (to see). functions as the base verb/action. - ee: from anglo-french '-é', a suffix forming nouns denoting the person who is the object or recipient of an action. functions as a noun-forming suffix.