-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. journalistjournalist and telefonisttelephonist, and follower of a certain conviction or movement, e.g. boeddhistBuddhist and staliniststalinist. For the second type of -ist derivations, there usually is a corresponding noun in -isme denoting ideology, movement, etc., e.g. boeddhismeBuddhism, stalinismestalinism.

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 journalistjournalist (cf. journaaljournal), lokettistclerk (cf. loketcounter), parachutistparachutist (cf. parachuteparachute), bloemistflorist (cf. bloemflower), cartoonistcartoonist (< cartoon), as well as nouns denoting followers of a certain conviction or movement such as symbolistsymbolist (< symboolsymbol) and fetisjistfetishist (< fetisjfetish). 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. staliniststalinist (< Stalin), leninistleninist (< Lenin), boeddhistBuddhist (< Boeddha), poujadistPoujadist (< Poujade), CarlistCarlist (< Carlos), calvinistCalvinist (< Calvijn). The suffix is very productive in the area of musicians' jobs names: violistviolinist (cf. vioolviolin), pianistpiano player (cf. pianopiano), saxofonistsaxophone player (cf. saxofoonsaxophone), tenoristtenor (saxophone) player, vocalistvocalist, tubaisttuba player, harpistharp player, klavecinistharpsichord player (cf. klavecimbelharpsichord and Fr. clavecinharpsichord).
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  Nouns like fluitistflutist and (recent) toetsenistkeyboard player are noteworthy in having bases (fluitflute and toetskey) that are not recognisably non-native. Ultimately, however, they derive from French, cf. Etymologiebank here and here. hoornisthorn player may be based on a genuine native stem hoornhorn (Etymologiebank), but given that comparable forms are found in the neighboring languages, borrowing cannot be excluded as a possibility; paukenisttimpanist is noteworthy because of the link morpheme -en that may be explainable from the fact that paukentimpani is almost always used in plural, that is, it is almost a plurale tantum; the same link morpheme -en is found in the aforementioned toetsenistkeyboard player, possible with the same type of explanation.

  Native bases as in bloemistflorist (< bloemflower) 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. componistcomposer (cf. componerento compose), juristlegal expert (cf. juridischlegal), drogistdruggist (< Fr. droguisteseller of medicine and herbs < Du. droogdry, see Etymologiebank), nudistnudist (cf. nudismenudism).
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  De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 225) suggest we find affix allomorphy in cases like comparatistcomparatist (-atist) and congreganistcongreganist (-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 PlatonistPlatonist < Plato: in classical Greek, this name ended in /n/.

• A smaller number of -ist formations has a (non-native) adjective as base, e.g. modernistmodernist, specialistspecialist, activistactivist. 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
  rationeelrational	rationalistrationalist	rationalismerationalism	rationaliteitrationality
  functioneelfunctional	functionalistfunctionalist	functionalismefunctionalism	functionaliteitfunctionality
  militairmilitary	militaristmilitarist	militarismemilitarisme	militariteitmilitarity

  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: modernistmodern-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 methodistmethodist (cf. methodemethod). In stems ending in /-i/, there is usually vowel deletion (marconistwireless operator, cf. Marconi, alchemistalchemist, cf. alchemiealchemy, anarchistanarchist, cf. anar'chieanarchy, kolonistsettler, cf. ko'loniecolony). 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.:

In several cases where the base is itself derived bij means of the unstressed suffix -ie there is stem allomorphy, e.g. illusionistillusionist (cf. illusieillusion) and perfectionistperfectionist (cf. perfectieperfection). Stem allomorphy also occurs in stems ending in Greek -ma (dogmatistdogmatist, cf. dogmadogma), 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 (journalistenjournalists, telefonistentelephone operators, boeddhistenBuddhists, stalinistenstalinists, componistencomposers, modernistenmodernists). Female counterparts are formed with the suffix -e, e.g. journalistefemale journalist, telefonistefemale telephone operator, boeddhistefemale Buddhist, stalinistefemale stalinist, componistefemale composer, modernistefemale 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 (terroristenleiderterrorist leader, cursistenbegeleidsterstudents companion, toeristenwinkelstourist shops) (note the linking morpheme-en) and as right-hand head parts (fietsenspecialistbicycle specialist, sportjournalistsports 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).