Suffixes in English
In English, we add syllables to the end of words to create new words. These added syllables are called “suffixes.”
Examples of Suffixes:
Referencing People:
- -ist = science / scientist, piano / pianist, type / typist
- -ant, -ent = study / student, assist / assistant, descend / descendant
- -ee = examine / examinee, employ / employee
Verbs Turned into Nouns:
- -al = propose / proposal, try / trial, arrive / arrival
- -age = pass / passage
- -ation = inform / information, quest / question, investigate / investigation
- -ance, -ence = refer / reference, differ / difference, depend / dependence
- -ment = improve / improvement, develop / development
- -sion = revise / revision, expand / expansion
- -tion = compete / competition
- -sis = emphasise / emphasis
- -y = discover / discovery
Adjectives Turned into Nouns:
- -al = accident / accidental, function / functional
- -ous = danger / dangerous, posion / poisonous
- -ical = alphabet / alphabetical
- -ic = drama / dramatic
- -ive = expense / expensive, harm / harmful
- -ish = fool / foolish, child / childish
- -ful = care / careful, help / helpful, harm / harmful
- -ant = brilliance / brilliant
- -able = reason / reasonable
- -y = wind / windy, salt / salty
- -ly = day / daily, week / weekly
Nouns Turned into Adjectives:
- -ance, -ence = different / difference, important / importance
- -ion = perfect / perfection
- -ity = similar / similarity, popular / popularity
- -y = modest / modesty
- -ty = safe / safety
- -ness = happy / happiness, sad / sadness, dark / darkness
- -iness = lazy / laziness
Adjectives Turned into Verbs:
There aren’t many verbs formed from adjectives, but they do exist:
- -en = tight / tighten, strength / strengthen, short / shorten
- -ise = modern / modernise