suffix

UK/ˈsʌfɪks/<q:noun>US/ˈsʌfɪks/<q:noun>

nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,882 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: suffixes

A suffix is letters added to the end of a word, like -ness or -ful. Add a suffix, the plural suffix, a common suffix.

English builds most of its vocabulary this way and a suffix often changes the part of speech — happy becomes happiness, a noun. A prefix goes on the front. The Latin means fastened underneath.

Definitions of suffix

1nounsuffixLetters added to the end of a word.B2+
“In English, the suffix -ed usually shows that a verb is in the past tense.”

suffix is a word part.

Where it comes from

Latin suffixus means fastened beneath, from sub plus figere, to fix. Prefix and affix are built the same way.

Latin
suffīxus — suffix
English, today
suffix

Built from

fīgere · Latin — to fasten, fix

Latin suffīxus (“suffix”), from sub- + fīxus, equivalent to sub- + -fix.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Academic English

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suffix in the wild

Orders of plants, fungi, and algae use the suffix -ales (e.g.
Order (taxonomy)
Orders of birds and fishes use the Latin suffix -iformes meaning 'having the form of' (e.g.
Order (taxonomy)
The suffix became productive in English from the 18th century, allowing the formation of new terms with no Latin or Greek precedent.
-logy
The suffix has the sense of " speaking or writing".
-logy
A double diminutive is a diminutive form with two diminutive suffixes rather than one.
Diminutive

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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