English seems to have borrowed enough terms from French with this suffix to give it a certain transparency, if not productivity, within English.Says the American Heritage Dictionary of the suffix, "Indicates a person who does something to excess; for example, drunkard, braggart. [Middle English, from Old French -ard, -art, from Common Germanic -hart, hard, "bold, hardy," often found in proper names such as Reginhart, Raynard, Gerhart, Gerard. See [the Indo-European root] kar-1 in Appendix).]"
I have used a reverse English dictionary to locate instances of this suffix, and the AHD for meanings and etymologies, and have classified those I found as follows:
| bastard | illegitimate child, from Fr. (fils de) bast ‘packsaddle (son)’ |
| blinkard | person who blinks habitually; an obtuse person |
| braggart | a bragger (compare Fr. bragard, braguer and "obscurely related" Middle Engl. braggen |
| dastard | ? from Old Norse daestr ‘exhausted’ < ‘languish, decay’ |
| dotard | a senile person Middle English doten > dote cf. dotty, dotage |
| drunkard | one who is habitually drunk |
| dullard | a mentally dull person; a dolt |
| goliard | medieval class of wandering, convivial, licentious students, from OF ‘glutton, trickster’ |
| laggard | a straggler |
| niggard | a stingy, grasping person; a miser; fr. Scandanavian hnöggr, miserly; to niggle "is akin" |
| sluggard | slothful person; related to sluggish |
| stinkard | contemptible person; animal with foul odor |
| wizard | male witch, sorcerer, magician; (obsolete) wise man or sage; from wise + -ard |
| Bernard | |
| Gerard | |
| Leonard | |
| Reynard | name given to the fox in folklore |
| Richard | |
| Spaniard |
| bustard | a bird |
| buzzard | a bird |
| canard | unfounded story, from Fr. canard ‘duck’ |
| collard | variant of colewort |
| costard | large English variety of apple, from Fr. coste ‘rib’ |
| gurnard | a fish; from OF ‘grunt’, because it grunts when caught |
| haggard | a bird; a wild hawk; 2nd adjectival meaning is ‘wild’ |
| leopard | compound: Lat. leo + pard ‘a large cat’ |
| lizard | a reptile, from OF |
| mallard | a wild duck, from OF mallart |
| mazzard | a wild, sweet cherry |
| mustard | a plant, fr. OF |
| pilchard | a small fish |
| pochard | a duck |
| pollard | animal or plant top part of which has been removed: dehorned |
| poulard | a capon |
| spikenard | an aromatic plant, ointment therefrom "spike nard" |
| staggard | full-grown male red deer: stag + ard; variant: staggart |
| leotard | worn by Fr. aerialist/acrobat named Jules Léotard |
| mansard | a roof shape, designed by Fr. named Mansart |
| billiard | a game, from Fr. billard ‘bent stick’, from OF bille ‘log’ |
| bollard | thick post on ship or wharf, from Middle English bole ‘tree trunk’ + -ard |
| brassard | a cloth badge worn on the upper arm; variant: brassart |
| custard | from Middle English crustade (talk about metathesis!) |
| foulard | lightweight twill fabric with small printed design |
| gabbard | flatbottomed barge, also gabbart |
| galliard | spirited dance with triple-time music |
| gizzard | digestive organ |
| hazard | a chance or accident; danger or peril; fr OF hasard, from Sp. axar 'unlucky throw of dice' |
| milliard | British billion, fr. OF milliart, from million |
| petard | a firecracker, fr. Fr. pétard, péter ‘fart’ |
| placard | poster, fr. OF word meaning 'to paste' |
| poniard | a dagger |
| scabbard | sheath for dagger: fr. Fr. "shears + bergan ‘protect(or)'" |
| standard | fr. OF estandard, flag marking a place for rallying < stand hard? |
| tabard | short heavy cape or pennant, fr. OF tabart |
| tankard | large drinking cup with single handle and often a hinged cover; fr. Middle English |
| vizard | a visor or mask, variants: visard, visor |
| halliard | var. of halyard; a rope (influenced by yard) |
| laniard | var. of lanyard, a short rope |
| orchard | from hort- ‘garden’ + yard |