List of 30+ Most Important Suffixes in English with their Meanings

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Suffixes! Following is a list of suffixes in English with their meanings and example sentences to give you an idea of how to identify them.

Suffixes

What are Suffixes?

Suffixes are placed after words to modify their meanings; like prefixes, they are groups of letters that rarely serve a purpose unless attached to a word.

List of Suffixes

• -able/-ible
• -ac/-ic
• -acy
• -acious/-icious
• -al
• -ance/-ence
• -dom
• -eer/-er/-or
• -escent
• -esque
• -fy
• -iferous
• -ise
• -ish
• -ism
• -ist
• -ity
• -less
• -ment
• -oid
• -ose
• -osis
• -ous
• -ship
• -sion/-tion
• -tude
• -y

Suffixes with Meanings and Examples

• -able/-ible 

Meaning: capable of

Examples: portable, legible

• -ac/-ic            

Meaning: like/related to

Examples: cardiac, Nordic

• -acy              

Meaning: state/quality of being

Examples: privacy, legitimacy

• -acious/-icious                  

Meaning: full of

Examples: gracious, malicious

• -al                 

Meaning: related to

Examples: logical, philosophical

• -ance/-ence             

Meaning: state/quality of being

Examples: maintenance, permanence

• –dom             

Meaning: state/quality of being

Examples: freedom, kingdom

• -eer/-er/-or              

Meaning: person who

Examples: mountaineer, writer, counsellor

• -escent                    

Meaning: becoming, to be

Examples: adolescent, fluorescent

• -esque                     

Meaning: like/reminiscent of

Examples: picturesque, Kafkaesque

• -fy                

Meaning: to make

Examples: magnify, electrify

• -iferous                   

Meaning: containing, yielding

Examples: vociferous, carboniferous

• -ise                

Meaning: make, become

Examples: civilise, terrorise

• -ish               

Meaning: having qualities of

Examples: hellish, fiendish

• -ism

Meanings: doctrine, belief, practice

Examples: favouritism, communism

• -ist                

Meaning: person who

Examples: chemist, florist

• -ity                

Meaning: state/quality of being

Examples: ingenuity, oddity

• -less              

Meaning: without

Examples brainless, endless

• -ment    

Meanings: state/quality of being, result of action

Examples: enjoyment, embankment,

• -ness             

Meaning: state of being

Examples: thinness, loneliness

• -oid               

Meaning: like

Examples: celluloid, ovoid

• -ose               

Meaning: full of

Examples: adipose, verbose

• -osis              

Meaning: condition

Examples: hypnosis, psychosis

• -ous              

Meaning: full of

Examples: illustrious, nauseous

• -ship             

Meaning: position held

Examples: friendship, membership

• -sion/-tion               

Meaning: state/quality of being

Examples: torsion, transition

• -tude             

Meaning: state/quality of being

Examples: fortitude, certitude

• -y                  

Meaning: characterised by

Examples: funny, greedy

List of Suffixes | Image