NOUN suffixes

Suffix Added to Meaning Examples

-age verbs; nouns the action or result of; the Break  breakage; marry 
state of condition of; a set marriage; bag  baggage; mile
or group of; an amount of;  mileage; post  postage;
the cost of; a place where anchor  anchorage
-al verbs a process or state of Deny  denial; survive 
survival; arrive  arrival; bury
 burial
-ance Adjectives; the action or state of Elegant  elegance; important
verbs  importance; ignorant 
ignorance; relevant  relevance;
allow  allowance; perform 
performance
-ancy (1) the state or quality of Expect  expectancy
-ant verbs A person or thing that Inhabit  inhabitant; depend 
dependant
-cy (1) adjectives; the state or quality of; the Infant  infancy; private 
nouns status or position of privacy; accurate  accuracy;
chaplain  chaplaincy
-dom Nouns; verbs The condition or state of; King  kingdom; duke 
the rank of or the are ruled dukedom; star  stardom; bore
by; the group of  boredom; free  freedom;
martyr  martyrdom
-ee Verbs; A person affected by an Employ  employee; absent 
adjectives action; a person described absentee; refuge  refugee; train
as or concerned with  trainee
-eer Verbs A person concerned with Auction  auctioneer; mountain
 mountaineer
-ence the action or state of confidence
-ency (1) the state or quality of complacency
-ent verbs a person or thing that Deter  deterrent
-er Verbs; nouns; A person or thing that; a love  lover; win  winner;
adjectives person or thing that has the compute  computer; foreign 
thing or quality mentioned; foreigner; lexicography 
a person concerned with; a lexicographer; Dublin 
person belonging to Dubliner
-(e)ry Adjectives; The group or class of Green  greenery; brave 
verbs; nouns something; the state or bravery; rival  rivalry; cook
character of; the art or cookery; arch  archery; bake
practice of; a place where  bakery; deliver  delivery
something is made, grows,
lives, etc.
-ese nouns From a place; a person who Portugal  Portuguese; Vienna
lives in a country or city;  Viennese; journal 
the style or language of journalese; official  officialese
-ess nouns female Host  hostess; waiter 
waitress; lion  lioness; tiger 
tigress; god  goddess
-ette Nouns female Usher  usherette; suffrage 
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 suffragette
-ful Nouns An amount that fills Hand  handful; spoon 
something spoonful
-hood nouns The state or quality of; a Parent  parenthood; child 
group of people of the type childhood; neighbour 
mentioned neighbourhood; brother 
brotherhood; priest  priesthood
-ian nouns From, typical of; a Boston  Bostonian; Brazil 
specialist in; a person who Brazilian; Shakespeare 
does something as a job or Shakespearian; mathematics 
hobby mathematician; physics
physician; history  historian;
comedy  comedian; politics 
politician
-ics The science, art or activity Physics; politics; dramatics;
of athlete  athletics
-ing verbs suffer  suffering; drive 
driving; mean  meaning; swim
 swimming
-ion (also verbs The action or state of dictate  dictation; hesitate 
-ation; -ition; hesitation; compete 
-sion, -tion; competition; confess 
-xion) confession
-ism nouns; The action or result of; the Criticism; hero  heroism;
adjectives state or quality of; the Buddha  Buddhism; race 
teaching, system or racism; American 
movement of; unfair Americanism; colloquial 
treatment or hatred for the colloquialism; alcohol 
reason mentioned; a feature alcoholism
of language of the type
mentioned; a medical
condition or disease
-ist nouns A person who believes or AtheismAtheist;
practises; a member of a dentistrydentist;
profession or business violin  violinist;
activity; a person who uses guitar  guitarist;
a thing; a person who does plagiarist
something
-ity adjectives Condition or quality of complex  complexity; creative
 creativity; secure  security;
equal  equality; curious 
curiosity; formal  formality;
flexible  flexibility; able 
ability
-let nouns Small; not very important book  booklet; pig  piglet;
star  starlet; brace bracelet
-ment verbs The action or result of Retire  retirement ; develop 
development ; arrange 
arrangement ; embarrass 
embarrassment ; excite 
excitement
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-ness adjectives The state or quality of happy  happiness; ill  illness;
dark  darkness; lonely 
loneliness; mad  madness; kind
 kindness; busy  business

-or verbs A person or thing that dose Act  actor; sail sailor;
something as job conduct  conductor; comment
 commentator
-ship nouns The state or quality of; the Owner  ownership; friend 
status or office of; skill or friendship; citizen  citizenship;
ability as; the group of professor  professorship;
musician  musicianship;
member  membership
-th Verbs; The action or process of Grow  growth; strong 
adjectives strength; long  length; true 
truth; deep  depth; wide 
width; dead  death
-ure verbs The action, process or fail  failure; close  closure;
result of depart  departure; please 
pleasure
-y verbs The action or process of Inquire  inquiry

ADJECTIVE suffixes
Suffix Added to Meaning Examples
-able Verbs; nouns That can or must be; Reason  reasonable; tax 
having the quality of taxable; fashion  fashionable;
comfort  comfortable; change 
changeable; eat  eatable
-al nouns Connected with Magic  magical; verb  verbal;
music  musical; nation 
national; accident  accidental;
environment  environmental
-ant Verbs That is or does something Signify  significant; ignore 
ignorant
-ed Nouns; verbs Having; having the Talent  talented; beard 
characteristics of; that bearded; disease  diseased;
suffers or receives some interest interested; bore  bored;
kind of feeling or effect excite  excited; embarrass 
embarrassed
-en nouns Made of; looking like Wood  wooden; gold  golden
-ent verbs That is or does something Differ  different; compete 
competent
-esque nouns In the style of Statue  statuesque; Dante 
dantesque
-ful Nouns; verbs Full of; having the qualities Sorrow  sorrowful; forget 
of; tending to forgetful; success  successful;
peace  peaceful; help  helpful
-ial Nouns Typical of Dictator  dictatorial
-ian nouns From, typical of Belgium  Belgian; Brazil 

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 Brazilian; Shakespeare 
Shakespearian
-ible Verbs; nouns That can or must be; Horror  horrible; sense 
having the quality of sensible; access  accessible;
divide  divisible
-ic Nouns; verbs Connected with, that Scene  scenic; economy 
performs the action economic; Arab  Arabic; horrify
mentioned  horrific; specify  specific

-ing Nouns; verbs That does or produces Interest  interesting; embarrass

some kind of feeling or  embarrassing; bore  boring;
effect amaze  amazing
-(i)ous nouns Having the nature or Poison  poisonous; glory 
quality of glorious; mystery  mysterious
-ish Nouns; From the country Turkey  Turkish; Ireland  Irish;
adjectives mentioned; [disapproving] Spain  Spanish; child  childish;
having the nature of, like; yellow  yellowish
fairly, approximately
-ive Verbs Tending to; having the Explode  explosive; describe 
nature of descriptive; express  expressive
-less nouns Without; not doing, not Tree  treeless; hair  hairless;
affected by meaning  meaningless; hope 
hopeless; harm  harmless
-like nouns Similar to; typical of Child  Child-like; shell  shell-
like; god  godlike
-ly nouns Having the qualities of; at Friend  friendly; coward 
intervals of cowardly; scholar  scholarly; day
 daily; month  monthly; year 
yearly
-some nouns Producing; likely to Fear  fearsome; trouble 
troublesome; bother  bothersome
-y nouns Full of; having the quality Dust  dusty; rain  rainy; sun 
of; tending to sunny; anger  angry; thirst 
thirsty; silk  silky; hair hairy

VERB suffixes
Suffix Added to Meaning Examples
-ate Nouns; To give the thing or Hyphen  hyphenate; active 
adjectives quality mentioned activate
-en adjectives To make or become Black  blacken; sad  sadden;
broad  broaden; less  lessen;
sweet sweeten; sharp  sharpen
-ify Adjectives; to make or become Solid  solidify; beauty  beautify;
nouns simple simplify; pure  purify
-ise [BrE]/- Nouns; To become, make or Private  privatise; fossil  fossilize;
ize [AmE] adjectives make like; to speak, modern  modernise; general 
think, act, treat, etc. in generalize; critic  criticize; theory
the way mentioned; to  theorise; pasteurize; hospital 
place in hospitalise

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 ADVERB suffixes
Suffix Added to Meaning Examples
-ly Adjectives; In the way mentioned; at Happy  happily; sudden 
nouns intervals of suddenly; lucky luckily; beautiful 
beautifully; hour  hourly ; day 
daily
-ward(s) Nouns; In the direction of Back  backward(s); up 
adjectives; upward(s); out  outward(s); east 
adverbs eastward(s); home  homeward(s)
-wise nouns In the manner or Clock  Clockwise; side  sidewise;
direction of length  lengthwise

1 Things changed __________. DRAMA

WORD FORMATION
1 Form the suitable words that fit the
space.
1 The _________of man's hand is about 5 cm.
WIDE
2 Traveling certainly has ___________his
mind. BROAD
3 You should_____________ these trousers,
they are much too short. LONG
4 Why bother? It seems _________to write
another letter. POINT
5 Lillian is ____________ taller than when we
saw her last. CONSIDER
6 Jim failed to ___________for the final stage
of the competition. QUALITY
7 This is rotten luck! I really ___________with
you. SYMPATHY
8 Have you read the latest __________ about
Madonna's private life? REVEAL
9 A true __________ lasts through life.
FRIEND
10 Bill assured us that the ___________
against him were untrue. ACCUSE
____ / 10
2 Form the suitable words that fit the
space.
2 It is impossible to predict which way the
election will go because there are so many
__________voters. DECIDE
3 With the application, a passport seized
photograph is a ___________. NECESSARY
4 My ___________ is that you will pass the
exam. EXPECT
5 The school playground has been
__________. LARGE
6 Ruth has gone back to college to get a
teaching _____________. QUALIFY
7 I don't find our colleague very _________.
LIKE
8 Why are you so ___________ to other
people's problems’? SENSE
9 How kind of you. That was
very____________. THOUGHT
10 When Jane made up for the play she was
___________. RECOGNIZE
____ / 10
3 Form the suitable words that fit the
space.
1 He has ___________ the new facts which
changed his life in a long row. KNOW
2 All the local _________ are required to take
part. RESIDE
3 Reading _________ the mind, they say.
BROAD
4 This is a ____________city center. HISTORY
5 all the agencies are offering
__________holidays to Greece. PACK
6 In the end I was a __________in the Wolver
Hampton. LIBRARY

5
7 Were you aware of the ____________ of the
situation? SERIOUS
8 she had to take an oath of __________.
SECRET
9 Some the animals are on the verge of
__________. EXTINCT
10 Stewardess is also called a
flight___________. ATTEND
____ / 10
4 Form the suitable words that fit the
space.
1 Slowly he_________his consciousness.GAIN
2 It was a very_____________evening,
wasn't it? ENTERTAIN
3 After eating something that had gone off he
developed food ___________.POISON
4 This is a
very______________situation.MESS
5 this is not a very
_____________situation.PROMISE
6 Why are you filling in this__________form?
APPLY
7 This text book should have been
more__________.INFORM
8 Oh, stop bothering me!As if i didn't have
enough___________.DIFFICULT
9 Tell me about your_________with your
father.RELATE
10 I think we'll soon become
_____________.MILLION
____ / 10
5 Form the suitable words that fit the
space.
1 You can't go any further without a
__________. PERMIT
2 This is an animal __________ organization.
FARE
3 Every government should ___________
basic human rights. PRACTICE
4 These two companies have been in
_____________ for over 10 yrs. OPERATE
5 We try to promote ___________ methods in
rearing of farm animals. HUMAN
6 Everybody was impressed by his
___________. GENEROUS
7 Has that satisfied your______________
CURIOUS
8 It has caused me a great deal of
____________ ANXIOUS
9 He is a famous__________. INVENT
10 My driving __________ is very patient with
me. INSTRUCT
____ / 10
6 Form the suitable words that fit the
space.
1 You didn't follow the _____________.
INSTRUCT
2 She works as a ____________. WAIT
3 He is a lift ____________. ATTEND
4 I am seeking _____________ EMPLOY
5 He has just dismissed three of his
___________ EMPLOY
6 We can't interview every _________ for the
job. APPLY
7 Please fill in this ___________form. APPLY
8 How much is the ___________ fee? ADMIT
9 Have you got any form of __________
IDENTIFY
10 I'd like to give you a piece of _________.
ADVISE
____ / 10
7 Form the suitable words that fit the
space.
1 The next ___________session will be on
Thursday. PRACTISE
2 He spoke a great __________. LONG
3 There is a______-of water at the moment.
SHORT
4 I'm out of my________ DEEP
5 He doesn't know his own
__________STRONG
6 it's worth its______ in gold. WEIGHT
7 He is of average ___________ HIGH
8 He measured the _________ of the door.
WIDE
9 He married her for her _________
BEAUTIFUL
10 She married him for his _________
WEALTHY
____ / 10
8 Form the suitable words that fit the
space.
6

The magic fat injection - Scientists in London
are working on the _______________
(DEVELOP) of a new kind of _______________
(INJECT) that will help people to lose
_______________ (WEIGH). The product is a
liquid that kills off fat cells in the body, and tests
on animals have shown _______________
(ENCOURAGE) results. The _______________
(INVENT) of the drug are planning to carry out
trials on humans soon, and are
_______________ (ENTHUSE) about the
product’s potential. One of the advantages of
the _______________ (TREAT) is that adults
only have a _______________ (LIMIT) number
of fat cells, and when they are killed off, they
are destroyed _______________ (PERMANENT).
If the new drug passes the necessary
_______________ (SAFE) tests, it is likely that
it will be extremely _______________
(SUCCESS).
____ / 11
9 Form the suitable words that fit the
space.
The dull life of animals - I came across an
article in a magazine the other day which made
_______________ (COMPARE) between people
and animals. It seemed to come to the
______________ (CONCLUDE) that in most
cases we are superior to animals and lead a
more _______________ (COMFORT) life. Wild
animals have much more _______________
(FREE) than pets or animals in zoo, but even a
lion or a tiger in the jungle could be killed by
_______________ (HUNT) at almost any time.
For animals, life is generally hard and
_______________ (DANGER) compared to the
life led by people in large cities, where there is
not only _______________ (VARY) but also the
possibility to choose the kind of life you want to
lead. It is hard to imagine a life more
_______________ (BORE) than that of a
tortoise.
____ /8