1736, "one to whom a transfer is made;" 1890s as "one who is transferred;" from transfer (v.) + -ee.
Entries linking to transferee
transfer v.
late 14c., from Old French transferer or directly from Latin transferre "bear across, carry over, bring through; transfer, copy, translate," from trans "across, beyond" (see trans-) + ferre "to carry" (from PIE root *bher- (1) "to carry"). Related: Transferred; transferring.
-ee
word-forming element in legal English (and in imitation of it), representing the Anglo-French -é ending of past participles used as nouns (compare -y (3)). As these sometimes were coupled with agent nouns in -or, the two suffixes came to be used as a pair to denote the initiator and the recipient of an action.
Not to be confused with the French -ée that is a feminine noun ending (as in fiancée), which is from Latin -ata.