'offeree' originates from English as a compound of 'offer' + the suffix '-ee', where the suffix '-ee' came from French '-é' meaning 'one who is acted upon' (a recipient of an action). 'offer' itself originates from Old French 'offrir' and Latin 'offerre', where 'ob-' meant 'toward' and 'ferre' meant 'to bring/carry'.

'offeree' was formed in English by attaching the French-derived suffix '-ee' to the verb 'offer' (used in legal and administrative language from around the 17th–19th centuries) and eventually established as the noun meaning 'one to whom an offer is made.'

Initially it meant 'a person to whom something is done' (general passive recipient), and over time it has been preserved with a narrower legal sense: 'a person to whom an offer is made.'