Some Affixes of English

The following are some affixes found in English words. They are organized by function, and within each class, by whether they are native or borrowed.

Affix	Source Lg.	Composition	Examples
Adjective-forming suffixes
-ish	Native	N + -ish 'like an N'	bearish
		ADJ + -ish 'rather, somewhat'	yellowish, longish
-like	Native	N + like 'like an N'	child-like, squid-like
-y	Native	N + y	funny, happy, heavy
-al	Latin, French	N + al	burial, conical, cortical
-an
-ane
-ant, -ent	Latin, French
-ar	Latin	N + ar	planar, lunar
-ate	Latin	N + ate	articulate (also v.)
-ary	Latin	root + ary	unitary, binary, solitary
-esque	French	V + esque	statuesque
-ic	Latin	formic
-id	Latin	liquid, gelid, squalid
-ile	Latin	juvenile
-ine	Latin	feline, porcine, asinine
-it
-ite
-ive	Latin		active, furtive
-oid	Greek
-ose	Latin
-ory	Latin
-ous	Latin, often via French	ADJ + (i) + ous	generous
Verb-forming suffixes
-en	Native	V + en	redden, whiten, blacken
-ate	Latin	Verb stem + ate	aerate, create, incinerate
-ize	Greek	N or ADJ + ize	empathize, cannibalize, metabolize
Noun-forming suffixes
-yx (rare morpheme)	Greek	root + yx	calyx, apteryx
-ion	Latin	N + (other stem material) + ion	compression, deviation
-y	Latin, French	verb stem + y	inquiry
-ant	Latin, French	lieutenant, tenant, supplicant Negative prefixes un- Native untrue, uncaring a/an- Greek anaerobic, atheist, anemic dis- Latin disbelief, disinter, dislocate in-/im-/ Latin indivisible, inimitable, inconsequential, immobile, illegible ir-/il- non- Latin non-academic, nonbinding, nonentity anti- opposite

© 2007 Suzanne Kemmer
Under construction. Last modified 24 Sept 08