suffixes - Is "demonstratee" a legitimate word?


Is demonstratee a legitimate word? None of the usual sources think so, but it seems like -ee should be a productive suffix. If it isn't, is there another word that can be used in reference to the object of a demonstration?



Answer



Fundamentally, there's nothing that makes one word more legitimate than another, other than actually being able to use it and have your audience understand you, but I presume you want to know how widely accepted the word is.


A quick Google Ngram search shows that it's rare, but occasionally used. Looking more closely, many of the places where it's used appear to be typos, for example:



This is demonstratee by Figure 6, where twice dilution…



But there are occasional valid uses:



Nothing on the pacemaker or the defibrillator is connected to a patient [sic] or a demonstratee.



It is indeed a valid word, and there's nothing preventing you from using it. It's rare though, so depending on your audience, if you really want to avoid confusion, perhaps you should stick with simple common language and simply refer to the demonstratee as the object of the demonstration.


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