Why do we put ress at the end of some words, like actress, mayoress and murderess, but not for others like doctress, accountantress, or teacheress?

Question

Why do we put ress at the end of some words, like actress, mayoress and murderess, but not for others like doctress, accountantress, or teacheress?

In: 12609

Answer 1

You’ve gotten good answers on etymology, but I think a big part of the answer is that we have feminine forms of words for things that women did when gendering words was seen as important. We don’t have feminine forms of doctor, lawyer, soldier, etc. because by the time women were doing those things it would have been obviously problematic to call women lawyeress.