Introduction

English has a large, rich vocabulary, with a large number of English lexical items
having been assimilated from other languages during the complex history of the
language. Vocabulary is one of the most essential parts of language acquisition and
can be broadly defined as knowledge of words and word meaning.
Most English words are made up of the base word known as root which contains
the heart of the meaning of the word. To expand such words, appendages (affixes)
are added at either the beginning or at the end of the word. It is the process of
attaching these affixes that is referred to as affixation.
One of the keys to mastering English spellings is mastering the processes of word
formation. The mode of word formation can influence the spelling. The study of the
meaningful parts of a word is known as morphology. Linguists have identified many
ways in which English form its words which include borrowing from Latin and
Greeks, clipping, affixation, conversion, acronym, blends, compounding and so on.
The scope of this paper is to look into affixation, particularly suffixation, as a process
of word formation.

1. Types of Morphemes
The Morpheme
The smallest units of language that have a meaning or a grammatical function and
form words or parts of words are called morphemes. In writing, individual
morphemes are usually represented by their graphic form, or spelling; e.g., -es, -
er, un-, re- or by their their graphic form between bracers, { }; e.g., {-es}, {-er},
{un-}, {re-}. The branch of linguistics in charge of studying the smallest meaningful
units of language (i.e., morphemes), their different forms, the internal structure of
words, and the processes and rules by which words are formed is called
morphology. [1]
Types of Morphemes
Depending on the way morphemes occur in an utterance, they are grouped into two
large groups: free morphemes and bound morphemes.
1. Free or independent morphemes are those morphemes which can occur alone
as words and have a meaning or fulfill a grammatical function; e.g., man, run, and.
There are two types of free morphemes. [2]
a. Lexical (content or referential) morphemes are free morphemes that have
semantic content (or meaning) and usually refer to a thing, quality, state or action.
For instance, in a language, these morphemes generally take the forms of nouns,

1
verbs, adjectives and adverbs; e.g., dog, Peter, house, build, stay, happy, intelligent,
quickly, always. Actually, lexical morphemes constitute the larger class of
morphemes. They form the open class of words (or content words) in a language,
i.e., a class of words likely to grow due to the incorporation of new members into it.
[3]
b. Function(al) or grammatical morphemes are free morphemes which have little
or no meaning on their own, but which show grammatical relationships in and
between sentences. For instance, in a language, these morphemes are represented by
prepositions, conjunctions, articles, demonstratives, auxiliary verbs, pronouns; e.g.,
with, but, the, this, can, who, me. It should be said that function words are almost
always used in their unstressed form. [4]
2. Bound (or dependent) morphemes are those morphemes which never occur
alone as words but as parts of words; they must be attached to another morpheme
(usually a free morpheme) in order to have a distinct meaning; e.g., -er in worker, -
er in taller, -s in walks, -ed in passed, re- as in reappear, un- in unhappy, undo, -
ness in readiness, -able in adjustable; -ceive in conceive, receive, -tain in contain,
obtain, etc. There are two types of bound morphemes: bound roots and affixes. [5]
a. Bound roots are those bound morphemes which have lexical meaning when
they are attached to other bound morphemes to form content words; e.g., -ceive in
receive, conceive; -tain in retain, contain; plac- in implacable, placate; cran- in
cranberry, etc. Notice that bound roots can be prefixed or suffixed to other affixes.
[6]
b. Affixes are bound morphemes which are usually marginally attached to words
and which change the meaning or function of those words; e.g., -ment in
development, en- in enlarge; ’s in John’s; -s in claps, -ing in studying, etc. [7]
Types of Affixes
Affixes can be classified into two different ways: according to their position in the
word and according to their function in a phrase or sentence.
1. According to their position in the word (or side of the word they are attached
to), affixes are classified into prefixes, infixes and suffixes. [8]
a. Prefixes are bound morphemes that are added to the beginning of the word; e.g.,
un- in unnoticed, a- in amoral, sub- in subway, etc. [9]
b. Infixes are bound morphemes that are inserted within the words. There are no
infixes in the English language, but in the languages such as Tagalog and Bontoc
(in the Philippines), Infixes are represented by the morphemes preceded and
followed by a hyphen; e.g., -um-. [10]

2
 c. Suffixes are bound morphemes which are attached to the end of the word; e.g.,
- able in noticeable, -less in careless, -s in seeks, -en in shorten, etc. [11]
2. According to the function affixes fulfill in the language, affixes are classified
into derivational affixes (derivational morphemes or derivations) and inflectional
affixes (inflectional morphemes or inflections). [12]
a. Derivational affixes are morphemes that create (or derive) new words, usually
by either changing the meaning and/or the part of speech (i.e., the syntactic
category), or both, of the words they are attached to. In English, derivational
morphemes can be either prefixes or suffixes. For example, un-+ happy (adj.) =
unhappy (adj.); re-+ classify (v) = reclassify (v.); by-+ product (n.) = by-product.
[13]
b. Inflectional affixes, for their part, are morphemes which serve a purely
grammatical function, such as referring to and giving extra linguistic information
about the already existing meaning of a word (e.g., number, person, gender, case,
etc.), expressing syntactic relations between words (e.g. possession, comparison),
among others. For instance, the different forms of the verb speak are all considered
to be verbs too, namely, speak, spoken, speaking. In a like manner, the comparative
and superlative forms of the adjective strong are also adjectives, namely, stronger,
strongest. In English, there are only eight inflections. They are -(e)s (third person
singular marker of verbs in present tense), as in speaks, teaches; -(e)s (regular plural
marker) as in books, oranges; ’s (possessive marker) as in John’s house; -(e)d
(regular past tense marker) as in helped, repeated; -en (past participle marker) as in
spoken, eaten; -ing (present participle marker) as in eating, studying; -er
(comparative marker) as in faster, happier; and -est (superlative marker) as in fastest,
happiest. [14]
Derivation Inflection
- encodes lexical meaning - encodes grammatical categories
- is not syntactically relevant - is syntactically relevant
- can occur inside derivation - occurs outside all derivation
- often changes the part of speech - does not change part of speech
- is often semantically opaque - is rarely semantically opaque
- is often restricted in its productivity - is fully productive
- is not restricted to suffixation - always suffixational (in English) [15]

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Roots and Stems
Roots (or bases) are the morphemes (free or bound) that carry the principal or
basic concept, idea or meaning in a word. They generally constitute the nuclei or
cores of words. When roots are free morphemes, they constitute content (and
function) words by themselves, such as book, dog, house, carry, quick, early, etc.
When roots are bound morphemes,4 they form parts of words, such as -ceive in
perceive, -tain in attain, -sume in presume, etc. [16]
For their part, stems are free roots to which derivational affixes have been added
or are likely to be added. In this sense, a stem = a root, as in fish, place; a stem = a
root + one or more derivations, as in comfortable, uncomfortable, uncountableness.
Notice that stems are words without inflectional morphemes. For example, in the
word disestablishment, disestablish, establishment, and establish (which is a root at
the same time) are stems. [17]

Lexical
Morphemes
Free
Morphemes
Grammatical
Morphemes
Morphemes
Bound Roots Prefixes
Bound
Morphemes
Affixes Infixes

Suffixes

2. Word – Formation. Suffixation

Word-Formation is the system of derivative types of words and the process of
creating new words from the material available in the language after certain
structural and semantic formulas and patterns. [18]
Word-formation is that branch of Lexicology which studies the derivative structure
of existing words and the patterns on which a language, ‘in this case the English
language, builds new words. [19]

4
Types of Word – Formation
1.Compounds 7.Abbreviations: acronyms, clipping
2.Derivation (Prefixation, Suffixation) 8.Loan words, Nonce words, Calques and
3.Back-Formation Coinages
4.Conversion
5.Eponyms
6.Blending
Derivation
Derivation (etymology, from the Latin “to draw off”) is the word formation
process in which a derivational affix attaches to the base form of a word to create a
new word (affix usually applies to words of one lexical category (part of speech) and
changes them into words of another category). [20]
Affixation
Affixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding derivational
affixes to different types of bases. Derived words formed by affixation may be the
result of one or several applications of word-formation rule and thus the stems of
words making up a word-cluster enter into derivational relations of different degrees.
The zero degree of derivation is ascribed to simple words, i.e. words whose stem is
homonymous with a word-form and often with a root-morpheme, e.g. atom, haste,
devote, anxious, horror, etc. Derived words whose bases are built on simple stems
and thus are formed by the application of one derivational affix are described as
having the first degree of derivation, e.g. atomic, hasty, devotion, etc. Derived words
formed by two consecutive stages of coining possess the second degree of
derivation, etc., e.g. atomical, hastily, devotional, etc. [21]
A careful study of a great many suffixal and prefixal derivatives has revealed an
essential difference between them. In Modern English suffixation is mostly
characteristic of noun and adjective formation, while prefixation is mostly typical of
verb formation. The distinction also rests on the role different types of meaning play
in the semantic structure of the suffix and the prefix.1 The part-of-speech meaning
has a much greater significance in suffixes as compared to prefixes which possess it
in a lesser degree. Due to it a prefix may be confined to one part of speech as, e.g.,
enslave, encage, unbutton or may function in more than one part of speech as, e.g.,
over- in overkind a, to overfeed v, overestimation n; unlike prefixes, suffixes as a
rule function in any o n e part of speech often forming a derived stem of a different
part of speech as compared with that of the base, e.g. careless a — cf. care n; suitable
a — cf. suit v, etc. Furthermore, it is necessary to point out that a suffix closely knit
5
together with a base forms a fusion retaining less of its independence than a prefix
which is as a general rule more independent semantically, cf. reading — ‘the act of
one who reads’; ‘ability to read’; and to re-read — ‘to read again.' [22]
Multiple Affixation
"Words may have multiple affixes either with different suffixes . . . or with the same
prefix recurring as below:
1. a. the latest re-re-re-make of Beau Geste.
b. the great-great-great-great grandson of the last Tsar of Russia.
What [1] shows is that, with a limited number of morphemes, morphological
prefixation rules can apply recursively in English… However, performance
difficulties in working out what exactly great-great-great-great grandson or re-re-
re-make means do severely restrict the chances of such words being used. But the
point is that the grammar cannot exclude them as ill-formed. Recursive rules are one
of the devices that make morphology open-ended…
"Reattaching the same morpheme again and again is permitted, but unusual. What is
common is multiple affixation of different affixes…
nation
nation-al
national-ise
denationalis-at-ion
anti-denationalisation
pre-antidenationalisation
Observe that where several prefixes or suffixes occur in a word, their place in the
sequence is normally rigidly fixed." [23]
Suffixation
Suffixation is the formation of words with the help of suffixes. Suffixes usually
modify the lexical meaning of the base and transfer words to a, different part of
speech. There are suffixes however, which do not shift words from one part of
speech into another; a suffix of this kind usually transfers a word into a different
semantic group, e.g. a concrete noun becomes an abstract one, as is the case with
child — childhood, friend — friendship, etc. [24]
Chains of suffixes occurring in derived words having two and more suffixal
morphemes are sometimes referred to in lexicography as compound suffixes: -ably
= -able + -ly (e.g. profitably, unreasonably); - ically = -ic + -al + -ly (e.g.
6
musically, critically); -ation = -ate + -ion (e.g. fascination, isolation) and some
others. [25]
Productive and Non-productive Affixes
The word-forming activity of affixes may change in the course of time. This raises
the question of productivity of derivational affixes, i.e. the ability of being used to
form new, occasional or potential words, which can be readily understood by the
language-speakers. Thus, productive affixes are those used to form new words in
the period question. [26]
The most productive English suffixes are:
Noun-forming -er (manager), -ing (fighting), -ness (sweatness),
suffixes -ism (materialism), -ist (impressionist),
-ance/-ancy (redundancy), -or (reactor)
-ness (happiness)
Adjective- -able (tolerable), -ic (electronic), -ish (smartish)
forming suffixes -less (jobless), -y (tweedy)
Verb-forming -ize/-ise (vitaminize), -ate (oxidate), -ify (falsify)
suffixes
Adverb-forming -ly (equally)
suffixes
[27]
Non-productive affixes (suffixes) are the affixes which are not able to form new
in the period in question. Non-productive affixes are recognized as separate
morphemes and possess clear-cut semantic characteristics. In some cases, however,
lexical meaning of a non-productive fades off so that only its part of speech meaning
remains, e.g. the adjective-forming suffix -some (lonesome, loathsome). [28]
Some non-productive English suffixes are:
Noun-forming -th (truth), -hood (sisterhood), -ship (scholarship)
suffixes
Adjective- -ful (peaceful), -some (tiresome), -en (golden),
forming suffixes -ous (courageous)
Verb-forming -en (strengthen)
suffixes
[29]
An affix may lose its productivity and then become productive again in the process
of word-formation. This happened to the suffix -dom. For a long period of time it
was non-productive but in the last hundred years –dom got a new lease of life so that
a great amount of words was coined with its help, e.g. serfdom, slavedom. [30]

7
 The productivity of an affix should not be confused with its frequency of
occurrence. The frequency of occurrence is understood as the existence in the
vocabulary of a great number of words containing the affix in question. An affix
may occur in hundreds of words, but if it is not used to form new words, it is not
productive. For example, the adjective-forming suffix –ful is met in hundreds of
adjectives (beautiful, hopeful, trustful, useful), but no new words seem to be built
with its help, and so it is non-productive. [31]

3. Suffixes. Types (classification) of Suffixes

Definition of the word “suffix” given in Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
- an affix occurring at the end of a word, base, or phrase
- a letter or a group of letters that is added to the end of a word to change its meaning
or to form a different word
Nominal suffixes (Noun forming suffixes)
Nominal suffixes are often employed to derive abstract nouns from verbs,
adjectives and nouns. Such abstract nouns can denote actions, results of actions, or
other related concepts, but also properties, qualities and the like. Another large group
of nominal suffixes derives person nouns of various sorts. Very often, these
meanings are extended to other, related senses so that practically each suffix can be
shown to be able to express more than one meaning, with the semantic domains of
different suffixes often overlapping.
-age
This suffix derives nouns that express an activity (or its result) as in coverage,
leakage, spillage, and nouns denoting a collective entity or quantity, as in acreage,
voltage, yardage. Due to inherent ambiguities of certain coinages, the meaning can
be extended to include locations, as in orphanage. Base words may be verbal or
nominal and are often monosyllabic.
-al
A number of verbs take -al to form abstract nouns denoting an action or the result of
an action, such as arrival, overthrowal, recital, referral, renewal. Base words for
nominal - al all have their main stress on the last syllable.

8
-ance (with its variants -ence/-ancy/-ency)
Attaching mostly to verbs, -ance creates action nouns such as absorbance, riddance,
retardance. The suffix is closely related to -cy/-ce, which attaches productively to
adjectives ending in the suffix -ant/-ent. Thus, a derivative like dependency could be
analyzed as having two suffixes (depend-ent-cy) or only one (depend-ency). The
question then is to determine whether -ance (and its variants) always contain two
suffixes, to the effect that all action nominals would in fact be derived from
adjectives that in turn would be derived from verbs. Such an analysis would predict
that we would find -ance nominals only if there are corresponding -ant adjectives.
This is surely not the case, as evidenced by riddance (*riddant), furtherance
(*furtherant), and we can therefore assume the existence of an independent suffix -
ance, in addition to a suffix combination -ant-ce.
The distribution of the different variants is not entirely clear, several doublets are
attested, such as dependence, dependency, or expectance, expectancy. Sometimes
the doublets seem to have identical meanings, sometimes slightly different ones. It
appears, however, that forms in -ance/-ence have all been in existence (sic!) for a
very long time, and that -ance/-ence formations are rather interpreted as deverbal, -
ancy/ -ency formations rather as de-adjectival (Marchand 1969:248f).
-ant
This suffix forms count nouns referring to persons (often in technical or legal
discourse, cf. applicant, defendant, disclaimant) or to substances involved in
biological, chemical, or physical processes (attractant, dispersant, etchant,
suppressant). Most bases are verbs of Latinate origin.
-cy/-ce
As already mentioned in connection with the suffix -ancy, this suffix attaches
productively to adjectives in -ant/-ent (e.g. convergence, efficiency, emergence), but
also to nouns ending in this string, as is the case with agency, presidency, regency.
Furthermore, adjectives in -ate are eligible bases (adequacy, animacy, intimacy).
The resulting derivatives can denote states, properties, qualities or facts
(convergence can, for example, be paraphrased as ‘the fact that something
converges’), or, by way of metaphorical extension, can refer to an office or
institution (e.g. presidency). Again the distribution of the two variants is not entirely
clear, although there is a tendency for nominal bases to take the syllabic variant -cy.
-dom
The native suffix -dom is semantically closely related to -hood, and -ship, which
express similar concepts. -dom attaches to nouns to form nominals which can be
paraphrased as ‘state of being X’ as in apedom, clerkdom, slumdom, yuppiedom, or

9
which refer to collective entities, such as professordom, studentdom, or denote
domains, realms or territories as in kingdom, cameldom, maoridom.
-ee
The meaning of this suffix can be rather clearly discerned. It derives nouns denoting
sentient entities that are involved in an event as non-volitional participants (so-called
‘episodic -ee,’ see Barker (1998) for a detailed analysis). Thus, employee denotes
someone who is employed, a biographee is someone who is the subject of a
biography, and a standee is someone who is forced to stand (on a bus, for example).
Due to the constraint that the referents of -ee derivatives must be sentient, an
amputee can only be someone who has lost a limb and not the limb that is amputated.
As a consequence of the event-related, episodic semantics, verbal bases are most
frequent, but nominal bases are not uncommon (e.g. festschriftee, pickpocketee).
Phonologically, - ee can be described as an auto-stressed suffix, i.e. it belongs to the
small class of suffixes that attract the main stress of the derivative. If base words end
in the verbal suffix -ate the base words are frequently truncated and lose their final
rime. This happens systematically in those cases where -ee attachment would create
identical onsets in the final syllables, as in, for example, *ampu.ta.tee (cf. truncated
amputee), *rehabili.ta.tee (cf. rehabilitee).
-eer
This is another person noun forming suffix, whose meaning can be paraphrased as
‘person who deals in, is concerned with, or has to do with X’, as evidenced in forms
such as auctioneer, budgeteer, cameleer, mountaineer, pamphleteer. Many words
have a depreciative tinge. The suffix -eer is autostressed and attaches almost
exclusively to bases ending in a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
-er (and its orthographic variant -or)
The suffix -er can be seen as closely related to -ee, as its derivatives frequently
signify entities that are active or volitional participants in an event (e.g. teacher,
singer, writer etc.). This is, however, only a sub-class of -er derivatives, and there is
a wide range of forms with quite heterogeneous meanings. Apart from performers
of actions we find instrument nouns such as blender, mixer, steamer, toaster, nouns
denoting entities associated with an activity such as diner, lounger, trainer, winner
(in the sense ‘winning shot’). Furthermore, -er is used to create person nouns
indicating place of origin or residence (e.g. Londoner, New Yorker, Highlander, New
Englander). This heterogeneity suggests that the semantics of -er should be
described as rather underspecified, simply meaning something like ‘person or thing
having to do with X’. The more specific interpretations of individual formations
would then follow from an interaction of the meanings of base and suffix and further
inferences on the basis of world knowledge.

10
 -er is often described as a deverbal suffix, but there are numerous forms (not only
inhabitant names) that are derived on the basis of nouns (e.g. sealer, whaler,
noser, souther), numerals (e.g. fiver, tenner), or even phrases (four-wheeler,
fourthgrader).
The orthographic variant -or occurs mainly with Latinate bases ending in /s/ or
/t/, such as conductor, oscillator, compressor.
-(e)ry
Formations in -(e)ry refer to locations which stand in some kind of connection to
what is denoted by the base. More specific meanings such as ‘place where a specific
activity is carried out’ or ‘place where a specific article or service is available’ could
be postulated (cf., for example, bakery, brewery, fishery, pottery or cakery,
carwashery, eatery), but examples such as mousery, cannery, rabbitry speak for an
underspecified meaning, which is then fleshed out for each derivative on the basis
of the meaning of the base.
In addition to the locations, -(e)ry derivatives can also denote collectivities (as in
confectionery, cutlery, machinery, pottery), or activities (as in summitry ‘having
many political summits’, crookery ‘foul deeds’).
-ess
This suffix derives a comparatively small number of mostly established nouns
referring exclusively to female humans and animals (princess, stewardess, lioness,
tigress, waitress). The Oxford English Dictionary lists only three 20th century
coinages (hostess, burgheress, clerkess).
-ful
The nominal suffix -ful derives measure partitive nouns (similar to expressions such
as a lot of, a bunch of) from nominal base words that can be construed as containers:
bootful, cupful, handful, tumblerful, stickful. (There is also an adjectival suffix -ful.)
-hood
Similar in meaning to -dom, -hood derivatives express concepts such as ‘state’ (as
in adulthood, childhood, farmerhood), and ‘collectivity’ (as in beggarhood,
Christianhood, companionhood). As with other suffixes, metaphorical extensions
can create new meanings, for example the sense ‘area’ in the highly frequent
neighborhood, which originates in the collectivity sense of the suffix.
-an (and its variants -ian, -ean)
Nouns denoting persons and places can take the suffix -an. Derivatives seem to have
the general meaning ‘person having to do with X’ (as in technician, historian,
Utopian), which, where appropriate, can be more specifically interpreted as ‘being
11
from X’ or ‘being of X origin’ (e.g. Bostonian, Lancastrian, Mongolian,
Scandinavian), or ‘being the follower or supporter of X’: Anglican, Chomskyan,
Smithsonian. Many -(i)an derivatives are also used as adjectives.
All words belonging to this category are stressed on the syllable immediately
preceding the suffix, causing stress shifts where necessary (e.g. Húngary -
Hungárian, Égypt - Egýptian).
-ing
Derivatives with this deverbal suffix denote processes (begging, running, sleeping)
or results (building, wrapping, stuffing). The suffix is somewhat peculiar among
derivational suffixes in that it is primarily used as a verbal inflectional suffix forming
present participles. Examples of pertinent derivatives are abundant since -ing can
attach to practically any verb. (There is also adjectival suffix –ing.)
-ion
This Latinate suffix has three allomorphs: when attached to a verb in -ify, the verbal
suffix and -ion surface together as -ification (personification). When attached to a
verb ending in -ate, we find -ion (accompanied by a change of the base-final
consonant from [t] to [S], hyphenation), and we find the allomorph -ation in all other
cases (starvation, colonization). Phonologically, all -ion derivatives are
characterized by having their primary stress on the penultimate syllable, which
means that -ion belongs to the class of suffixes that can cause a stress shift.
Derivatives in -ion denote events or results of processes. As such, verbal bases
are by far the most frequent, but there is also a comparatively large number of forms
where -ation is directly attached to nouns without any intervening verb in -ate .
These forms are found primarily in scientific discourse with words denoting
chemical or other substances as bases (e.g. expoxide - epoxidation, sediment -
sedimentation).
-ism
Forming abstract nouns from other nouns and adjectives, derivatives belonging to
this category denote the related concepts state, condition, attitude, system of beliefs
or theory, as in blondism, Parkinsonism, conservatism, revisionism, Marxism,
respectively.
-ist
This suffix derives nouns denoting persons, mostly from nominal and adjectival
bases (ballonist, careerist, fantasist, minimalist). All nouns in -ism which denote
attitudes, beliefs or theories have potential counterparts in -ist. The semantics of -ist
can be considered underspecified ‘person having to do with X’, with the exact
meaning of the derivative being a function of the meaning of the base and further
12
inferencing. Thus, a balloonist is someone who ascends in a balloon, a careerist is
someone who is chiefly interested in her/his career, while a fundamentalist is a
supporter or follower of fundamentalism.
-ity
Words belonging to this morphological category are nouns denoting qualities, states
or properties usually derived from Latinate adjectives (e.g. curiosity, productivity,
profundity, solidity). Apart from the compositional meaning just described, many -
ity derivatives are lexicalized, i.e. they have become permanently incorporated into
the mental lexicons of speakers, thereby often adopting idiosyncratic meanings, such
as antiquity ‘state of being antique’ or ‘ancient time’, curiosity ‘quality of being
curious‘ and ‘curious thing’. All adjectives ending in the suffixes -able, -al and -ic
or in the phonetic string [Id] can take -ity as a nominalizing suffix (readability,
formality, erraticity, solidity).
-ment
This suffix derives action nouns denoting processes or results from (mainly) verbs,
with a strong preference for monosyllables or disyllabic base words with stress on
the last syllable (e.g. assessment, endorsement, involvement, treatment).
-ness
Quality noun forming -ness is perhaps the most productive suffix of English. With
regard to potential base words, -ness is much less restrictive than its close semantic
relative -ity. The suffix can attach to practically any adjective, and apart from
adjectival base words we find nouns as in thingness, pronouns as in us-ness and
frequently phrases as in over-the-top-ness, all-or-nothing-ness.
-ship
The suffix -ship forms nouns denoting ‘state’ or ‘condition’, similar in meaning to
derivatives in -age, -hood and -dom. Base words are mostly person nouns as in
apprenticeship, clerkship, friendship, membership, statesmanship, vicarship.
Extensions of the basic senses occur, for example ‘office’, as in postmastership, or
‘activity’, as in courtship ‘courting’ or censorship ‘censoring’.
Verbal Suffixes (Verb forming Suffixes)
-ate
Forms ending in this suffix represent a rather heterogeneous group. There is a class
of derivatives with chemical substances as bases, which systematically exhibit
socalled ornative and resultative meanings. These can be paraphrased as ‘provide
with X’ (ornative), as in fluorinate, or ‘make into X’ (resultative), as in methanate.
However, a large proportion of forms in -ate do not conform to this pattern, but show
13
various kinds of idiosyncrasies, with -ate being apparently no more than an indicator
of verbal status. Examples of such non-canonical formations are back-fomations
(formate < formation), local analogies (stereoregular : stereoregulate :: regular :
regulate), conversion (citrate), and completely idiosyncratic formations such as
dissonate or fidate.
-en
The Germanic suffix -en attaches to monosyllables that end in a plosive, fricative or
affricate. Most bases are adjectives (e.g. blacken, broaden, quicken, ripen), but a few
nouns can also be found (e.g. strengthen, lengthen). The meaning of -en formations
can be described as causative ‘make (more) X’.
-ify
This suffix attaches to base words that are either monosyllabic, stressed on the final
syllable or end in unstressed /I/. Neologisms usually do not show stress shift, but
some older forms do (húmid - humídify, sólid - solídify). These restrictions have the
effect that -ify is in (almost) complementary distribution with the suffix -ize (see
below). The only, but systematic, exception to the complementarity of -ize/-ify can
be observed with trochaic base words ending in /I/, which take -ify under loss of that
segment (as in nazify), or take -ize (with no accompanying segmental changes apart
from optional glide insertion, as in toddyize). Semantically, -ify shows the same
range of related meanings as -ize (see below), and the two suffixes could therefore
be considered phonologically conditioned allomorphs.
-ize
Both -ize and -ify are polysemous suffixes, which can express a whole range of
related concepts such as locative, ornative, causative/factitive, resultative,
inchoative, performative, similative. Locatives can be paraphrased as ‘put into X’,
as in computerize, hospitalize, tubify. Patinatize, fluoridize, youthify are ornative
examples (‘provide with X’), randomize, functionalize, humidify are causative
(‘make (more) X’), carbonize, itemize, trustify and nazify are resultative (‘make into
X’), aerosolize and mucify are inchoative (‘become X’), anthropologize and
speechify are performative (‘perform X’), cannibalize, vampirize can be analyzed as
similative (‘act like X’).
Adjectival Suffixes (Adjective forming suffixes)
The adjectival suffixes of English can be subdivided into two major groups. A large
proportion of derived adjectives are relational adjectives, whose role is simply to
relate the noun the adjective qualifies to the base word of the derived adjective. For
example, algebraic mind means ‘a mind having to do with algebra, referring to
algebra, characterized by algebra’, colonial officer means ‘officer having to do with
the colonies’, and so on. On the other hand, there is a large group of derived
14
adjectives that express more specific concepts, and which are often called
qualitative adjectives. Sometimes, relational adjectives can adopt qualitative
meanings, as can be seen with the derivative grammatical, which has a relational
meaning ‘having to do with grammar’ in the sentence she is a grammatical genius,
but which also has a qualitative sense ‘conforming to the rules of grammar’, as in
This is a grammatical sentence. Note that relational adjectives usually occur only in
attributive position, i.e. as prenominal modifiers (as in a lexical problem). If we find
them in predicative position in a clause (as in This sentence is grammatical), they
usually have adopted a qualitative sense.
-able
The suffix chiefly combines with transitive and intransitive verbal bases, as in
deterrable and perishable, respectively, as well as with nouns, as in serviceable,
fashionable. The semantics of deverbal -able forms seem to involve two different
cases, which have been described as ‘capable of being Xed’ (cf. breakable,
deterrable, readable), and ‘liable or disposed to X’ (cf. agreeable, perishable,
variable; changeable can have both meanings). What unites the two patterns is that
in both cases the referent of the noun modified by the -able adjective is described as
a potential non-volitional participant in an event. In this respect, -able closely
resembles episodic -ee. Denominal forms can convey the same meaning, as e.g.
marriageable, jeepable, kitchenable, roadable. There are also some lexicalized
denominal forms with the meaning ‘characterized by X’, as in
fashionable (but cf. the concurrent compositional meaning ‘that can be fashioned’),
knowledgeable, reasonable.
Phonologically, -able exhibits diverse properties. Only some lexicalized
derivatives exhibit stress shift (e.g. cómparable), and base verbs in -ate are often,
but not systematically, truncated, as in allocable, irritable, navigable, permeable,
operable vs. cultivatable, emancipatable, operatable.
In established loan words we also find the orthographic variant -ible:
comprehensible, discernible, flexible, reversible.
-al
This relational suffix attaches almost exclusively to Latinate bases (accidental,
colonial, cultural, federal, institutional, modal). All derivatives have stress either on
their penultimate or antepenultimate syllable. If the base does not have its stress on
one of the two syllables preceding the suffix, stress is shifted to the antepenult of the
derivative (e.g. cólony - colónial).
-ary
Again a relational adjective-forming suffix, -ary usually attaches to nouns, as in
complementary, evolutionary, fragmentary, legendary, precautionary. We find
15
stress-shifts only with polysyllabic base nouns ending in -ment (cf. compliméntary
vs. mómentary).
-ed
This suffix derives adjectives with the general meaning ‘having X, being provided
with X’, as in broad-minded, pig-headed, wooded. The majority of derivatives are
based on compounds or phrases (empty-headed, pig-headed, air-minded, fair-
minded).
-esque
The suffix -esque is attached to both common and proper nouns to convey the notion
of ‘in the manner or style of X’: Chaplinesque, Hemingwayesque, picturesque,
Kafkaesque.
-ful
Adjectival -ful has the general meaning ‘having X, being characterized by X’ and is
typically attached to abstract nouns, as in beautiful, insightful, purposeful, tactful,
but verbal bases are not uncommon (e.g. forgetful, mournful, resentful).
-ic
Being another relational suffix, -ic also attaches to foreign bases (nouns and bound
roots). Quite a number of -ic derivatives have variant forms in -ical (electric -
electrical, economic - economomical, historic - historical, magic - magical etc.).
Sometimes these forms are clearly distinguished in meaning (e.g. economic
‘profitable’ vs. economical ‘money-saving’), in other cases it remains to be
determined what governs the choice of one form over the other.
-ing
This verbal inflectional suffix primarily forms present participles, which can in
general also be used as adjectives in attributive positions (and as nouns, see above).
The grammatical status of a verb suffixed by -ing in predicative position is not
always clear. In the changing weather the -ing form can be analyzed as an adjective,
but in the weather is changing we should classify it as a verb (in particular as a
progressive form). In the film was boring, however, we would probably want to
argue that boring is an adjective, because the relation to the event denoted by the
verb is much less prominent than in the case of changing.
-ish
This suffix can attach to adjectives (e.g. clearish, freeish, sharpish), numerals
(fourteenish, threehundredfourtyish), adverbs (soonish, uppish), and syntactic
phrases (e.g. stick-in-the-muddish, out-of-the-wayish, silly-little-me-late-again-ish)
to convey the concept of ‘somewhat X, vaguely X’. When attached to nouns
16
referring to human beings the derivatives can be paraphrased as ‘of the character of
X, like X’, which is obviously closely related to the meaning of the non-denominal
derivatives. Examples of the latter kind are James-Deanish, monsterish, summerish,
townish, vampirish. Some forms have a pejorative meaning, e.g. childish.
-ive
This suffix forms adjectives mostly from Latinate verbs and bound roots that end in
[t] or [s]: connective, explosive, fricative, offensive, passive, preventive, primitive,
receptive, speculative. Some nominal bases are also attested, as in instinctive,
massive.
-less
Semantically, -less can be seen as antonymic to -ful, with the meaning being
paraphrasable as ‘without X’: expressionless, hopeless, speechless, thankless.
-ly
This suffix is appended to nouns and adjectives. With base nouns denoting persons,
- ly usually conveys the notion of ‘in the manner of X’ or ‘like an X’, as in brotherly,
daughterly, fatherly, womanly. Other common types of derivative have bases
denoting temporal concepts (e.g. half-hourly, daily, monthly) or directions (easterly,
southwesterly).
-ous
This suffix derives adjectives from nouns and bound roots, the vast majority being
of Latinate origin (curious, barbarous, famous, synonymous, tremendous). Like
derivatives in -al, -ous formations are stressed either on the last but one syllable or
last but two syllable (the so-called penult or antepenult), with stress being shifted
there, if necessary (e.g. plátitude - platitúdinous). There are further variants of the
suffix, -eous (e.g. erroneous, homogeneous), -ious (e.g. gracious, prestigious), and
-uous (e.g. ambiguous, continuous).
Adverbial Suffixes (Adverb forming suffixes)
-ly
The presence of this exclusively de-adjectival suffix is for the most part syntactically
triggered and obligatory, and it can therefore be considered inflectional. However,
in some formations there is a difference in meaning between the adjective and the
adverb derived by -ly attachment: shortly, hardly and dryly are semantically distinct
from their base words and hotly, coldly and darkly can only have metaphorical
senses. Such changes of meaning are unexpected for inflectional suffix, which
speaks against the classification of adverbial -ly as inflectional.

17
-wise
This suffix derives adverbs from nouns, with two distinguishable sub-groups:
manner/dimension adverbs, and so-called view-point adverbs. The former adverb
type has the meaning ‘in the manner of X, like X’ as in the towel wound sarongwise
about his middle, or indicates a spatial arrangement or movement, as in The cone
can be sliced lengthwise. It is, however, not always possible to distinguish clearly
between the ‘manner’ and ‘dimension’ readings (e.g. is ‘cut X crosswise’ an instance
of one or the other?). The smaller and much more recent group of viewpoint adverbs
is made up of adverbs whose meaning can be rendered as ‘with respect to, in regard
to, concerning X’. The scope of the viewpoint adverbs is not the verb phrase, but the
whole clause or sentence, a fact which is visible in the surface word-order in They
make no special demands food-wise and Statuswise, you are at a disadvantage. [32]

List of Suffixes

Nominal Suffixes

-acy, state or quality privacy: the state of being alone

-cy infancy: the state of being a baby or young child

activity, or result of
-age action courage: having the spirit to overcome fear

-al action, result of action referral: the action of directing a person to another place

-an person artisan: a craftsperson

-ance, action, state, quality or resistance: the action of opposing something

independence: the state of not being under the control of
-ence process others
state, quality or
-ancy, capacity vacancy: an empty room or position
agency: the capacity to exert power or influence, a position or
-ency person that
performs a function
an agent, something
-ant, that disinfectant: something that cleans
-ent performs the action dependent: a thing supported or determined by another

-ate state, office, fuction candidate: a person nominated for an office or position

-ation action, resulting state specialization: the result of being distinguished by one quality
18
 or ability

-dom place, state of being wisdom: possessing knowledge

person or thing that

-er, does baker: a person who bakes
-or something collector: a person who collects or gathers things
an amount or quanity
-ful that mouthful: an amount that fills the mouth
fills
-ian, related to, one that is politician: a person works in politics
-an
-ia names, diseases phobia: an illogical fear of something

psychiatry: branch of medicine dealing with the mind and

-iatry art of healing emotions
arithmetic: a branch of math dealing with non-negative
-ic, related to the arts and numbers
-ics sciences economics: the social science related to studying business

-ice act malice: the desire to do evil

material made for,
-ing activity, swimming: the activity of swimming through water
result of an activity building: the result of making a structure

-ion condition or action abduction: the action of carrying someone away by force
doctrine, belief, action
-ism or formalism: a belief in sticking to prescribed forms
conduct
-ist person or member podiatrist: a foot doctor

-ite product or part graphite: a black material used in making pencils

-ity, state or quality novelty: something new or unusual

-ty

-ive condition native: a person born in a specific place

document: official paper showing proof or evidence of

-ment condition or result something

-ness state, condition, quality kindness: the quality of being kind or nice

-ology the study of biology: the study of life

19
 -or condition or activity valor: bravery, courage

-ory place for, serves for territory: an area around a place

-ship status, condition friendship: the state of being a friend

-ure act, condition, process, exposure: the condition of being exposed or unprotected
function
state, condition, result
-y of society: companionship
an activity victory: the result of winning something

Verbal Suffixes
graduate: to give a degree to, to pass from one stage to the
-ate cause to be next

-ed past tense attained: something that has been reached or grasped

-en to cause to become moisten: to cause to become moist or damp

-er, -or action ponder: to think about
clamor: to make noise, to call for loudly

-ify cause specify: to name or indicate in detail

-ing present participle depicting: showing, describing with images or pictures

-ize cause fantasize: to create images in the mind

conjecture: to come to a conclusion by supposition or

-ure act guesswork

Adjectival Suffixes
-able, worth, ability solvable: able to be solved or explained
-ible incredible: not able to be believed, amazing
-al, quality, relation structural: related to the physical make up of a thing
-ial, territorial: related to nearby or local areas
-ical categorical: related to a category, absolute
-ant, indicating, being important: indicating value or worth
-ent, dependent: relying upon something else
-ient
spectacular: related to something that is eye-catching or
-ar, resembling, related to amazing
unitary: related to units or single groups representing
-ary quantities
20
 -ate kind of state inviolate: not disturbed, pure

-ed having the quality of terraced: having terraces or steps

-en material silken: made from silk, a fiber produced by worms

-er comparative brighter: more light

-est superlative strongest: having the most strength

having, giving, marked

-ful by fanciful: marked by imagination

-ic quality, relation generic: related to a whole group

-ile having the qualities of projectile: something thrown with an outside force

-ing activity cohering: the act of sticking together

-ish having the character of, newish: modern, recent
about, almost
-ive, having the quality of festive: having the quality of a festival or party
-ative, cooperative: being able or willing to work together
-itive sensitive: easily felt, responsive to the senses

-less without, missing penniless: a person without any money

-ous, having the quality of, adventurous: characterized by the desire to seek adventures
-eous, relating to courageous: characterized by courage, brave
-ose, verbose: having more words than needed
-ious
-y marked by, having hungry: having hunger, marked by a desire

Adverbial Suffixes
in a manner of, marked
-fold by fourfold: being four times as great

-ly in the manner of fluently: marked by ease of movement, effortlessly smooth

-ward in a direction or manner homeward: toward home

-wise in the manner of, with timewise: with regard to time

[33]
21
 List of Greek Suffixes
Greek refers to the language of ancient Greece from around the 9th century B.C.
to the 4th century A.D. Most Greek words and word parts entered English during
the Renaissance, as scholars discovered, studied, and translated ancient Greek
works. Many specialized terms in law, science, and other academic disciplines come
from Greek, and new scientific and technological terms are still often formed from
ancient Greek roots. [34]
Many Greek-based words are recognizable from their spelling. The spelling and
pronunciation of Greek roots and affixes have certain characteristics: use of "ph" as
an "f" sound (in in telephone and photograph) and "ch" as a hard "c" (as in chorus
and architect), the starting of a word with "ps," "pn," "mn," and "gn" (all pronounced
with a silent first consonant), and the use of "y" between consonants (mystery,
rhythm) are some of the most common features of English words of Greek origin.
[35]

Suffixes Origin Meaning Example

-biosis Greek mode of living, way of life symbiosis
-blast Greek formative, embryonic mesoblast
-chaeta-, -chete Greek a bristle Polychaeta
mercurochrom
-chrome Greek color e
-cocci, -coccus Greek round, seed, kernel Streptococcus
-cyst Greek pouch, sac trichocyst
-dactyl Greek finger pentadactyl
-derm, -dermis Greek skin, layer epidermis
-emia Greek blood disease anemia
-gamous, -gamy Greek marriage, sexual fusion polygamy
-hedral, -hedron Greek side polyhedral
-ism Greek act, practice or result of terrorism
-itis Greek inflammation or infection appendicitis
-mer, -merous G. meros a part, piece polymer
-meter G. metron a measurement diameter
-morph Greek form endomorph
-mycin Greek derived from a fungus aureomycin
-nomy Greek systematized knowledge of astronomy
-oma Greek tumorous carcinoma
-osis, -otic Greek abnormal condition, disease neurosis
-phage Greek eater bacteriophage
-phase Greek a stage or condition metaphase
22
-phil, -phile Greek fear, fearing hydrophobia
-phor, -phore Greek bearing, carrying, supporting sporangiophore
-phyll Greek leaf chorophyll
-phyta, -phyte Greek plant epiphyte
-plasm Greek formative substance cytoplasm
-plast Greek organized particle, granule choroplast
-pod, -poda Greek foot arthropod
-some Greek body chromosome
-stasis Greek a stationary position homeostasis
-stat, -static Greek stationary, still hemostat
-stomy Greek opening into colostomy
-therm Greek heat homeotherm
-thes, -thesis Greek arrangement, in order hypothesis
-tom, -tomy Greek dividing, surgery lobotomy
-trope, -tropic Greek turning phototropic
-zoa,-zoan,-zoic Greek animal, life protozoa
[36]

Conclusion
Prefixation and suffixation are generally known as affixation. Affixation creates
new English words by modifying or changing the meaning of a root word. One thing
that students, teachers, materials writers, and researchers can all agree upon is that
learning vocabulary is an essential part of mastering a (second) language.
According to last researches, well over 80 percent of the total vocabulary of
English is borrowed and most of its words can be used with affixation. Therefore,
studying vocabulary with affix systems or patterns would seem to be much more
effective language learners than just memorizing words. Furthermore, using
affixation strategies has another benefit, which is that it helps learners naturally
expand their knowledge of meaning or grammatical categories. Thus, teachers and
learners of English should seriously consider using affixation-based instruction and
learning of vocabulary.
I hope this paper has shown the important role of affixation, particularly
suffixation, in word-formation process in the English language.

23
 References
[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,16,17] Argenis A. Zapata (2007) Escuela de
Idiomas Modernos, Los Andes University p.1-3
[15] Word Formation in English by Ingo Plag, Cambridge University Press, 2002
[18,19,21,22,24,25] Лексикология английского языка: Учебник для ин-тов и
фак. иностр. яз./Р. 3. Гинзбург, С. С. Хидекель, Г. Ю. Князева и А. А. Санкин.
— 2-е изд., испр. и доп. — М.: Высш. школа, 1979. p.114-120
[20]http://www.brighthubeducation.com/esl-lesson-plans/59338-word-back-
formation-list/
[23] Francis Katamba, Morphology. St. Martin's Press, 1993
[26,27,28,29,30,31] Практический курс английской лексикологии = A Practical
Course in English Lexicology: учеб. Пособие для студ. линг. вузов и фак. ин.
языков/ И.В. Зыкова – 3-е изд. – М.: Издательский центр «Академия», 2008 p.
74
[32] Suffixes. Types (classification) of suffixes. Adapted from: Word-Formation in
English by Ingo Plag, Cambridge University Press, 2002 p.109-123
[33] Caglioti, C. "Preparation for an American University Program: Vocabulary
Workshop" Southampton College of Long Island University.
http://www.southampton.liu.edu/academic/pau/course/webesl.htm
[34,35] Greek Suffixes. Adapted from: www.wordsmyth.net
[36] http://users.uoa.gr/~nektar/history/language/greek_latin_derivatives.htm

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