Tinkerer comes from tinker (Middle English tinkere, a mender of pots and pans, of obscure origin) + the agent suffix -er. The historical chain includes Middle English tinkere. The formation is best read as suffixal, compound, and borrowed: the word tinkerer carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a person who enjoys experimenting with and repairing things". Related English forms include tinker and tinkering. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.