"person appointed," 1768, after French appointé, from apointer "arrange, settle, place;" see appoint + -ee.
Entries linking to appointee
appoint v.
late 14c., "to decide, resolve; to arrange the time of (a meeting, etc.)," from Anglo-French appointer, Old French apointier "make ready, arrange, settle, place" (12c., Modern French appointer), from apointer "duly, fitly," from phrase à point "to the point," from a- "to" (see ad-) + point "point," from Latin punctum "small hole made by pricking" (from nasalized form of PIE root *peuk- "to prick").
The etymological sense is "to come to a point" (about some matter), therefore "agree, settle." The meaning "put in charge, authoritatively nominate or assign" is early 15c. Related: Appointed; appointing.
-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.