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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Morphology and Word Formation

Suffix

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

/ˈsʌfɪks/nounCore term

In linguistics & grammar, suffix means: A letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning, its word class or its grammatical form, such as -ness, -ful or -ed.

In Turkish: sonek, son ek

How it is used

Suffixes can be inflectional (plural -s, past -ed) or derivational (-ness turns kind into kindness). Derivational suffixes often change the part of speech and sometimes move the stress.

Example sentences

  1. Adding the suffix -ity moves the stress: ACtive, acTIVity.

  2. In Turkish a single word can take five or six suffixes in a row.

Common collocations

  • noun suffix
  • adjective suffix
  • inflectional suffix
  • derivational suffix
  • add a suffix
  • prefixA letter or group of letters added to the beginning of a word to make a new word with a different meaning, such as un- in unhappy or re- in rewrite.
  • affixA piece added to a word to change its meaning or grammatical form, such as a prefix at the start (re-) or a suffix at the end (-ed).
  • inflectionA change in the form of a word, usually by adding an ending, to show grammatical information such as tense, number, person or case, without making a new word.
  • derivationThe process of making a new word from an existing one, usually by adding an affix, as when teach becomes teacher or happy becomes unhappy.
  • stemThe part of a word to which inflectional endings are added; it can be a bare root (walk) or a root with derivational affixes (teacher in teachers).

More terms: Morphology and Word Formation

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