Sŏng'stress, n.

A female singer.

☞ The termination ster was originally applied to denote the female agent in an action, so that songster signified, at first, a female who sings; but the ending ster having at length, in a measure, lost its peculiar force, the feminine termination ess was appended to songster, thus forming songstress with a double ending. See STER.