What Are Suffixes? Definition and Examples

A suffix is a group of letters added to the end of a base word (root word) to modify its meaning or change its grammatical function. Unlike prefixes, which come at the start of a word, suffixes come after the root. By learning common suffixes and their effects on word meaning, you can become better at forming new words, understanding unfamiliar terms, and refining your language skills.

Table of contents

What Is a Suffix?

A suffix is a letter or group of letters placed at the end of a word to create a new word. Suffixes can:

• Change the part of speech of a word (e.g., from a verb to a noun).
• Alter the tense or form of a verb.
• Indicate plurality or possession.
• Add meaning related to quality, state, or manner.

Examples:

• Base word: “act” (verb)
• Add suffix “-ion” → “action” (noun, the process or state of acting)
• Base word: “hope” (noun)
• Add suffix “-ful” → “hopeful” (adjective, full of hope)

Types of Suffixes

There are two main categories of suffixes in English:

1. Inflectional Suffixes
2. Derivational Suffixes

1. Inflectional Suffixes

Inflectional suffixes do not change a word’s overall meaning or part of speech significantly. Instead, they provide grammatical information such as tense, number, possession, or comparison. English has a relatively small set of inflectional suffixes.

Common Inflectional Suffixes:

• -s / -es: plural or third-person singular verbs
  • Plural: cat → cats, box → boxes
  • Third-person singular: he runs, she watches
• -’s: possessive form
  • girl → girl’s book
  • James → James’s car
• -ed: past tense for regular verbs
  • walk → walked
  • talk → talked
• -ing: present participle/gerund form of verbs
  • run → running
  • sing → singing
• -en: past participle for some irregular verbs
  • break → broken
  • choose → chosen
• -er / -est: comparative and superlative forms of adjectives or adverbs
  • fast → faster → fastest
  • cold → colder → coldest

Key Points:

• Inflectional suffixes never create a new word category; they keep the word in the same grammatical class but add grammatical meaning.
• They are always added at the end of a word after any derivational suffixes.

2. Derivational Suffixes

Derivational suffixes create new words by altering the meaning and often changing the part of speech of the base word. For instance, adding a suffix might transform a verb into a noun, a noun into an adjective, or create a new word entirely.

Common Derivational Suffixes and Their Functions:

1. -ness, -ment, -tion, -sion, -ity, -ship, -hood (form nouns)
   • happy (adjective) + -ness → happiness (noun)
   • govern (verb) + -ment → government (noun)
   • create (verb) + -tion → creation (noun)
   • real (adjective) + -ity → reality (noun)
   • friend (noun) + -ship → friendship (noun)
   • child (noun) + -hood → childhood (noun)
2. -er, -or, -ist, -ian (form nouns, often people who do something)
   • teach (verb) + -er → teacher (one who teaches)
   • act (verb) + -or → actor (one who acts)
   • piano (noun) + -ist → pianist (one who plays the piano)
   • history (noun) + -ian → historian (one who studies history)
3. -ful, -less, -ish, -ous, -ic, -ive, -al (form adjectives)
   • hope (noun) + -ful → hopeful (full of hope)
   • fear (noun) + -less → fearless (without fear)
   • child (noun) + -ish → childish (like a child)
   • fame (noun) + -ous → famous (full of fame)
   • hero (noun) + -ic → heroic (like a hero)
   • create (verb) + -ive → creative (tending to create)
   • accident (noun) + -al → accidental (related to an accident)
4. -ly, -ward, -wise (form adverbs)
   • quick (adjective) + -ly → quickly (adverb)
   • home (noun) + -ward → homeward (towards home)
   • clock (noun) + -wise → clockwise (in the direction of a clock’s hands)
5. -ate, -en, -ify, -ise/-ize (form verbs)
   • length (noun) + -en → lengthen (make longer)
   • modern (adjective) + -ize → modernize (make modern)
   • class (noun) + -ify → classify (put into classes)
   • weak (adjective) + -en → weaken (make weak)

Key Points:

• Derivational suffixes can change the grammatical category of a word (e.g., from verb to noun, noun to adjective, etc.).
• They often create entirely new words with distinct meanings.

Spelling and Pronunciation Considerations

1. Dropping or Adding Letters: When adding suffixes, sometimes spelling changes occur:
   • For words ending in “e,” you often drop the “e” before adding “-ing” or “-ed”:
     hope → hoping, hoped
   • For words ending in “y,” sometimes “y” changes to “i” before certain suffixes:
     happy → happiness (y → i before -ness)
2. Doubling Consonants: Some words require doubling the final consonant before adding a suffix, usually to maintain the correct vowel sound:
   • run → running (double the n)
   • begin → beginning
3. Pronunciation Shifts: Certain suffixes can change the stressed syllable or the pronunciation of the base word:
   • photograph (stress on PHO-to)
   • photographer (stress on to-GRA-pher) – note how the suffix “-er” shifts stress

Tips for Using Suffixes

1. Identify the Base Word: Knowing the base word helps you understand how the suffix changes its meaning or function.
2. Check the Part of Speech: Recognize if the suffix changes the word from a noun to an adjective, an adjective to an adverb, etc.
3. Consult a Dictionary: If unsure about how adding a suffix affects meaning or spelling, look it up.
4. Recognize Patterns: Many words formed from the same suffix share similar meanings or grammatical roles (e.g., “-ness” often indicates a quality or state).

Examples of Words with Multiple Suffixes

1. Successful:
   • Base: success (noun)
     • -ful (adjective form) → successful (full of success)
     • -ly (adverb form) → successfully (in a successful manner)
2. Helpfulness:
   • Base: help (verb/noun)
     • -ful (adjective: helpful, full of help)
     • -ness (noun: helpfulness, the quality of being helpful)
3. Modernization:
   • Base: modern (adjective)
     • -ize (verb: modernize, make modern)
     • -ation (noun: modernization, the process of making something modern)

Conclusion

Suffixes are powerful tools for expanding vocabulary, altering word functions, and refining meaning. By understanding common suffixes, you can decipher the roles and meanings of many English words. Keep practicing by identifying suffixes in everyday reading and experimenting with adding suffixes to known base words, and soon you’ll be more confident and adept at using and understanding suffixes in English.