WORD FORMATION

NOUN SUFFIXES
Suffix Meaning Examples
-cy state or quality privacy, tendency, accuracy
-al act or process of arrival, refusal
appearance, assistance, distances, importance,
-ance state or quality of
instance, maintenance
-ence state or quality of differences, eminence, existence, reference
-ant one who inhabitants, assistant, instant
-dom place or state of being freedom, kingdom, random, boredom
founders, labourers, performers, photographers,
-er one who
reminder, researchers, shoppers, trainer
-or one who competitors, director, instructors, protector
-ee one who employee, referee
-ism doctrine, belief communism, journalism, tourism
-ist one who chemist, cyclist, journalists, scientists, tourists
ability, anxiety, hostility, majority, minority,
-ty quality of originality, personality, popularity, possibility,
safety, variety, veracity
-y place or state of being injury, scenery, delivery, bravery
achievement, agreement, amazement, development,
embarrassment, employment, enjoyment, equipment,
-ment condition of
government, improvement, judgement, payment,
treatment
darkness, fitness, heaviness, illnesses, loneliness,
-ness state of being
madness, politeness
-ship position held fellowship, friendship, membership, relationships
-less privacy of breathless, careless, endless, homeless, motionless
concession, conclusion, confusion, decision,
-sion state of being
expansion, permission, possession, profession
addition, application, attractions, communication,
competition, concentration, connections,
consumption, description, explanation, hesitation,
-tion state of being intention, motion, occupations, operation,
production, qualification, recognition,
recommendations, repetition, solution, tradition,
transition
-hood group, condition brotherhood, childhood, neighborhood
-ge condition of knowledge, marriage, pledge
housing, living, meeting, suffering, surraunding,
-ing quality of
teaching, training, willing
-ure condition of pleasure, pressure, procedure
 VERB SUFFIXES
Suffix Meaning Examples
-ate become eradicate, collocate, separate
brighten, darken,deepen, enlighten, lengthen,
-en become
shorten, strengthen, tighten,weaken, widen
enable, enclose, encourage, endanger, enlarge,
en- become
engage, ensure, entrust,
-fy make or become beautify, clarify, identify, purify, specify, terrify
advise, apologise, characterise/ize, civilize,
computerise/ize, criminalise, minimise/ize,
-ize, -ise become
organise prioritise, revolutionise/ize, specialise,
televise
ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES
crowded, disappeared, doubled, encouraged,
-ed participle hatred, identified, qualified, repeated, supposed,
surprised
astonishing, entertaining, exhausting, freezing,
-ing gerund increasing, leading, limiting, promising,
supposing, surprising
-ant having the nature of important, distant, significant
-ent having the nature of existent, different, efficient
comfortable, considerable, enjoyable, fashionable,
-ble capable of being practicable, presentable, profitable, reasonable,
reliable, remarkable, suitable, edible, impossible
accidental, additional, annual, central, coastal,
financial, gradual, general, industrial, original,
-al pertaining to personal, practicalprofessional, punctual,
regional, traditional, tropical, unusual, medical,
traditional, theatrical, musical, essential
-ar pertaining to popular, regular, spectacular
-esque reminiscent of picturesque, arabesque, romanesque
cheerful, delightful, doubtful, fanciful, harmful,
-ful notable for helpful, hopeful, peaceful, powerful, successful,
wonderful
characteristic, dramatic, ecocomic, energetic,
-ic pertaining to
enthusiastic, historic, mythic, scientific
anxious, conscious, dangerous, luxurious,
-ous characterized by marvellous, mysterious, nervous, nutritious,
poisonous, portentous, various
-ish having the quality of childish, blackish, selfish
abusive, additive, attractive, creative, expensive,
-ive having the nature of
impressive, objective, protective, relative
extraordinary, healthy, noisy, sleazy, steady,
-y characterized by
stormy, sunny, thirsty, wealthy
-er/-est comparative/superlative tiniest/er, toughest/er
-th/st/nd/rd ordinal numbers third, sixth, fifth
 ADVERB SUFFIXES
Suffix Meaning Examples
accidentally, automatically, bitterly, cheerfully,
comfortably, consciously, considerably, crossly,
-ly modal adverbs easily, extraordinarily, extremely, gradually,
lonely, passionately, repeatedly, steadily,
supposedly, surprisingly
annually, daily, frequently, punctually, regularly,
-ly frequency adverb
shortly, unevenly, usually
-ly connectors firstly, generally, unfortunately, unlikely
equally, highly, increasingly, incredibly, really,
-ly quantifiers
relatively, truly
PREFIXES
a- without amoral, asleep
co-, com-, con- with copilot, companion, contact
disabilities, disadvantage, disagreement,
dis- not
disappear, disbelief
immoral, impatient, impossible, impressive,
im- not, without
improvement
il- not, without illegal, illogical, illegible
in- not, without inconsiderate, incredible, inappropriate
ir- not, without irregular, irresponsible, irrational
in- into increasingly, indispensable, injury, insert
over- over, more overcharged, overcrowded
under- under, beneath underestimated, understand
re- again recognition, remarkable
mis- not, without misfortune, misunderstand, misspell, misuse
unable, unavailable, unbelievable, unclear,
uncomfortable, unconsciously, uncovered,
un- not unemployment, unenthusiastic, unevenly, unfairly,
unfinished, unfortunately, unknown, unlike,
unpleasant, unresponsive, unsuitable, unusual

Other prefixes are: uni- / mono- (one) (unicorn, monocle), ante- (before) (antecedent),
anti- (against) (anticlimax), auto- (self ) (autopilot), circum- (around) (circumvent),
contra- (against) (contradict), de- (off, away from) (devalue), ex- (out of, former)
(extract, ex-president), extra- (beyond, more than) (extracurricular), hetero- (different)
(heterosexual), homo- (same) (homonym), hyper- (over, more) (hyperactive), inter- /
intra- (between) (intersect, intravenous), macro- (large) (macroeconomics), micro-
(small) (microscope), non- (not, without) (nonentity), omni- (all, every) (omniscient),
post- (after) (postmortem), pre-, pro- (before, forward) (precede, project), sub- (under)
(submarine), syn- (same time) (synchronize), trans- (across) (transmit), tri- (three)
(tricycle)

IRREGULARS
Although there are some leads that are considered irregular, they are not; for example:
Those abstract nouns ending in -th, such as: growth, death, depth, warmth,
strength, length, truth, width,... or -ght ; weight , height , flight, sight...
Other words are linked with the irregular verbs, such as: choice, frozen, loss,
speech, thought...
Other words are only verbs or nouns ending in -ce / -se , such as: service,
produce, response,
Others are only changes due to the -f(e) -v(e); proof , gift, relief , life, ...
And others are just compositions of different words, such as: throughout,
within, into, maybe, outlook,
So, there are very few irregular words. Some of them are : anger , analysis , ease ,
heat , success , ...

BRITISH AND AMERICAN WORDS

Also, you should pay attention on the differences between British and American:
British double the l when adding -ed/-ing. For example: modeling / modeling,
travelled / traveled. But if the stress falls on the second syllable, the letter must
be always doubled, e.g. rebel / rebelled
Some words end in -tre/-ter. For example: centre / center, theater / theatre
Some words end in -our/-or. For example: colour / color, labour / labor
Some verbs end in -ize/-ise (use better -ize) For example: realize / realize,
harmonise / harmonize, and others end in -ence/-ense. E.g. defence / defense,
licence / license