List of Suffixes A to Z with Definition Types and Examples

List of Suffixes a to z!

What are Suffixes in Grammar?

A suffix is a group of letters (sometimes just a single letter) added at the end of a word to change its meaning or to convert it into another form, i.e. suffer -> Suffering (Here ing is a suffix). On the other hand, we add a prefix at the start of a root word i.e. Subtitle (Here sub is a prefix).

Note: Both Suffixes and Prefixes are known as Affixes.

List of Suffixes A to Z with Definition Types and Examples

We are going to discuss four types of suffixes:

Suffixes that makes Adverb
Suffixes that makes Noun
Suffixes that makes Verb
Suffixes that makes Adjective

1. Suffixes List (that makes Adverb)

Suffix	Meaning	Example
-ly	in what manner something is being done	holy, quickly, softly, defiantly, efficiently
-ward	in a certain direction	Afterward, outward, inward, forward
-ways	Shows direction	Always, outways, sideways,
-wise	in relation to	Otherwise, likewise, crabwise, anticlockwise

2. Suffixes List (that makes Adjective)

suffix	meaning	example
–able	able to be	capable, affordable, dissolvable, inflatable, flammable
-al	pertaining to	accidental, educational, regional, personal, social
-ant	inclined to or tending to	instant, important
-ary	of or relating to	stationary, necessary, beneficiary, summary
-en	made of	soften, straighten, sweeten, thicken
-ful	full of	fruitful, painful, cupful, helpful, hopeful
-ible	capable of being, ability	horrible, terrible, legible/illegible, flexible/inflexible
-ic	relating to	patriotic, parotic, athletic, historic, fantastic
-ical	having the nature of	historical, thermoelectrical
-ious, -ous	having qualities of	religious, conscious, ambitious, notorious, luxurious.
-ish	origin, nature	accomplish, relinquish, extinguish, amateurish, impoverish, cuttlefish
-ive	quality or nature of	cooperative, sensitive, supportive
-less	without anything	colorless, selfless, tubeless, useless, friendless
-like	similar to, alike	cloudlike, childlike, warlike, ladylike, boxlike
–ous	full of	advantageous, subconscious, preposterous, percutaneous
–some	a tendency to	handsome, fearsome, tiresome, awesome
-y	made up of or characterized by	angry, baggy, bally

3. List of Suffix (that makes Noun)

Suffix	Meaning	Example
-age	action, a result, state, process	Percentage, drainage marriage, shortage
-al	Condition, quality	Committal, approval, arrival
–ance	An action or state	Dance, romance, performance
-ance/-ence	action, state, condition, or quality	Performance, evidence, affluence, sentence, coincidence, sequence, existence, silence, experience
-ant	A person	Elephant, entrant, occupant
-ation/-tion	the action or the resulting state	Action, section, disqualification, characterization
–ee	A person	Guarantee, committee, appointee, warrantee
-eer	engaged in something, associated with something	Beer, deer, seer, veer, jeer, peer
-ence	An action or state	evidence, affluence, insistence, sentence, sequence, existence, silence, conference,
-er	someone who performs an action	Beer, deer, seer, bier
–or	A person	Sensor, distributor, accelerator, incinerator
-ery	a business or trade, a type or place of work	Misery, artery, watery, celery, cheery
–ess	Makes a feminine form	Caress, access, actress
-ful	As much as will fill	Mouthful, painful, cupful, helpful, boastful
-hoop	family terms	Whoop
-ing	action, state, process	Bing, ding, king, ping, ring
-ion	A process, state or result	Action, cation, anion, amnion
–ism	A belief or condition	Ageism, chrism, holism
-ist	A person who practice	Technologist, editorialist, psychiatrist
-ity	the state or condition of	Responsibility, territoriality, respectability, susceptibility
-ment	the action or result of	Disappointment, involvement, discouragement
-ness	a state or quality	Benevolentness, fraudulentness, felicitousness.
-or	a person who is something	Dictator, distributor, accelerator
-ship	position held	Internship, partnership, hardship
-sion	state or being	Compression, progression, suppression, subdivision.
-th	state or quality	Altazimuth, Blacksmith, Childbirth, Coelacanth.
-ty	condition	Ability, amnesty, acidity, anxiety
-ure	action or the resulting state	Commissure, Commixture, Conjecture.

4. List of Suffixes (A to Z) that makes Verb

Suffix	Meaning	Example
-ate	To make	Abate, blate, crate, fixate
-ed	past-tense version of a verb	Waited, wanted, needed, decided
-en	become	Brighten, darken, harden
-er	action or process, making an adjective comparative	Alter, anger, caper
-ify, -fy	To make or produce	Diversify, intensify, electrify
-ing	verb form/present participle of an action	Eating, cooking, starting
-ize, -ise	to cause or to become	Aerosolize, alkalinize, automatize