-ist ( /ɪst/) is an international productive suffix found in nouns denoting male persons (also in gender-neutral usage), ultimately going back to Greek (etymologiebank, affixes.org). Bases are both words and bound forms, usually of foreign origin.

On semantic grounds, De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 224) distinguish two groups of nouns in -ist: jobs or function names, e.g. journalist journalist and telefonist telephonist, and follower of a certain conviction or movement, e.g. boeddhist Buddhist and stalinist stalinist. For the second type of -ist derivations, there usually is a corresponding noun in -isme denoting ideology, movement, etc., e.g. boeddhisme Buddhism, stalinisme stalinism.

On formal grounds, on the other hand, (De Haas and Trommelen 1993) distinguish three types of derivations in -ist, viz. those on nominal bases, those with a bound form as basis, and those on adjectival bases. More on these subtypes below.

• denominal -ist derivations take as their base simplex or complex nouns, usually belonging to the non-native lexical stock. Cases in point are job or function names like journalist journalist (cf. journaal journal), lokettist clerk (cf. loket counter), parachutist parachutist (cf. parachute parachute), bloemist florist (cf. bloem flower), cartoonist cartoonist (< cartoon), as well as nouns denoting followers of a certain conviction or movement such as symbolist symbolist (< symbool symbol) and fetisjist fetishist (< fetisj fetish). Proper names, especially foreign ones, are popular as bases as well, and then the semantics is typically follower of a certain conviction or movement, e.g. stalinist stalinist (< Stalin), leninist leninist (< Lenin), boeddhist Buddhist (< Boeddha), poujadist Poujadist (< Poujade), Carlist Carlist (< Carlos), calvinist Calvinist (< Calvijn). The suffix is very productive in the area of musicians' jobs names: violist violinist (cf. viool violin), pianist piano player (cf. piano piano), saxofonist saxophone player (cf. saxofoon saxophone), tenorist tenor (saxophone) player, vocalist vocalist, tubaist tuba player, harpist harp player, klavecinist harpsichord player (cf. klavecimbel harpsichord and Fr. clavecinharpsichord).
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  Nouns like fluitist flutist and (recent) toetsenist keyboard player are noteworthy in having bases (fluit flute and toets key) that are not recognisably non-native. Ultimately, however, they derive from French, cf. Etymologiebank here and here. hoornist horn player may be based on a genuine native stem hoorn horn (Etymologiebank), but given that comparable forms are found in the neighboring languages, borrowing cannot be excluded as a possibility; paukenist timpanist is noteworthy because of the link morpheme -en that may be explainable from the fact that pauken timpani is almost always used in plural, that is, it is almost a plurale tantum; the same link morpheme -en is found in the aforementioned toetsenist keyboard player, possible with the same type of explanation.

  Native bases as in bloemist florist (< bloem flower) are even rarer than they are in English (cf. Bauer et al. (2013: 223) who list forms like duckist, fattist, keyboardist, landscapist, womanist whose Dutch counterparts are all ungrammatical).

• A number of -ist formations has a bound form (root) as basis, that is, the base does not occur independently, although it is found in other derived words (cf. non-native derivation), e.g. componist composer (cf. componeren to compose), jurist legal expert (cf. juridisch legal), drogist druggist (< Fr. droguisteseller of medicine and herbs < Du. droog dry, see Etymologiebank), nudist nudist (cf. nudisme nudism).
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  De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 225) suggest we find affix allomorphy in cases like comparatist comparatist (-atist) and congreganist congreganist (-anist), where -atist in turn may be built from -ist and a suffix -at that can never function as a closing suffix (cf. discussion on -ateur in -eur). An analysis in terms of stem allomorphy, finding its roots in intricacies of Romance morphology, therefore seems at least as viable. A comparable explanation is available for forms such as Platonist Platonist < Plato: in classical Greek, this name ended in /n/.

• A smaller number of -ist formations has a (non-native) adjective as base, e.g. modernist modernist, specialist specialist, activist activist. If the base adjectives are formed with the (foreign) suffixes -eel or -air, these change into -aal and -aar, respectively, just as in the case of suffixes like -iteit and -isme.
  Table 1

  adjective	-ist formation	-isme formation	-iteit formation
  rationeel rational	rationalist rationalist	rationalisme rationalism	rationaliteit rationality
  functioneel functional	functionalist functionalist	functionalisme functionalism	functionaliteit functionality
  militair military	militarist militarist	militarisme militarisme	militariteit militarity

  These are instances of learned vowel backing (Dell and Selkirk 1978, Booij 1995: 77, cf. suffix allomorphy).

The suffix -ist is stress-bearing: stress is on the suffix: modernist modern-ist /mo.dɛr.'nɪst/ (< modern /mo.'dɛrn/), dadaist /da.da.'ɪst/ dadaist (< Da'da). As the phonological representation shows, the suffix is cohering: syllabification does not respect the morphological structure.

If the base ends in schwa, this is deleted (per the rule of prevocalic schwa deletion), as in methodist methodist (cf. methode method). In stems ending in /-i/, there is usually vowel deletion (marconist wireless operator, cf. Marconi, alchemist alchemist, cf. alchemie alchemy, anarchist anarchist, cf. anar'chie anarchy, kolonist settler, cf. ko'lonie colony). If the base word ends in another full vowel, it is unpredictable whether or not it is deleted (De Haas and Trommelen 1993: 225), cf.:

no vowel deletion	vowel deletion
dadaist dadaist < Dada Dada	boeddhist Buddhist < Boeddha Buddha
prozaist prose writer < proza prose	spinozist spinozist < Spinoza Spinoza
egoist egoist < (Lat.) ego I	cellist cello player < (violin)cello violincello
hoboist oboist < hobo oboe	solist soloist < solo solo
kopiist copyist < kopie copy	bigamist bigamist < bigamie bigamy

In several cases where the base is itself derived bij means of the unstressed suffix -ie there is stem allomorphy, e.g. illusionist illusionist (cf. illusie illusion) and perfectionist perfectionist (cf. perfectie perfection). Stem allomorphy also occurs in stems ending in Greek -ma (dogmatist dogmatist, cf. dogma dogma), and in cases like stalinist /sta.li.'nɪst/ stalinist (< Stalin /'sta.lɪn/ Stalin), calvinist /kɑl.vi.'nɪst/ Calvinist (< Calvijn /kɑl.'vɛɪn/ Calvin) and afgodist /ɑf.γo.'dɪst/ idolator (< afgod /'ɑf.γɔt/ idol, demigod).

-ist formations have a plural form in -en (journalisten journalists, telefonisten telephone operators, boeddhisten Buddhists, stalinisten stalinists, componisten composers, modernisten modernists). Female counterparts are formed with the suffix -e, e.g. journaliste female journalist, telefoniste female telephone operator, boeddhiste female Buddhist, staliniste female stalinist, componiste female composer, moderniste female modernist. Diminutives are regularly formed with the suffix allomorph -je (journalistje telefonistje boeddhistje stalinistje) and typically get a depreciatory interpretation. -ist formations can also enter into nominal compounding, both as left-hand parts (terroristenleider terrorist leader, cursistenbegeleidster students companion, toeristenwinkels tourist shops) (note the linking morpheme-en) and as right-hand head parts (fietsenspecialist bicycle specialist, sportjournalist sports journalist)

There is a paradigmatic relation of -ist with the nominal suffix isme (English ism) and the verbal suffix -iseer (English -ize), "suggesting a pocket of [...] derivatives with a paradigmatic flavour", just as in English (Bauer et al. 2013:22).