20 Examples of Suffixes

Suffixes

The suffixes They are morphemes (within the so-called affixes), which are written at the end of a word and modify its meaning. For example: zoophilia(philia means "love" and zoo refers to the animal kingdom).

Suffixes, in general, do not have more than three or four letters; however, they can change the meaning of the word quite a bit.

Most of the suffixes used in the Spanish language are derived from Latin, some come from Greek and others are local constructions or regional, typical of the way of speaking of the towns.

It is interesting to mention that some suffixes have been incorporated into certain specialty languages ​​with certain independence of the word, by way of generalization, as happens with the suffix –philia in the field of psychology.

In Spanish, the accentuation of the words that have suffixes respect the accentuation rules general language.

Types of suffixes

Regarding the creation of new words, it should be noted that suffixes have a fundamental division:

What are prefixes?

In a similar way to what happens with suffixes, prefixes (the other class of affixes) are morphemes that are put before the lexemes and also modify the meaning, sometimes so much that it starts to mean what contrary.

The peculiarity that this class of affixes has in the Spanish language is that they all belong to the group of derivatives. For example: hemi-, dis-, bi-

Suffix Examples

Different suffixes are exemplified below, each with its respective meaning:

1. -archy. It is added to abstract nouns to refer to forms of government. For example: monarch, oligarch.
2. -azo. It is added to nouns or adjectives to function as an emphatic element. For example: friendazo, codazo, latigazo.
3. -ito. It is added to nouns to function as a diminutive. For example: dogito, momentito.
4. -very. It is added to adjectives and indicates superlative degrees. For example: goodvery, altvery.
5. -therapy. It is added to nouns to indicate ways of treating diseases. For example: radiotherapy, antibiotictherapy.
6. –es, -ano, -ense, -eño. They are added to names of cities and countries to form adjectives of the name. For example: genovit is, toledyear, Costa Rican, we formyear.
7. -philia. It is added to nouns to indicate 'love or fondness for'. For example: zoophilia, in order tophilia.
8. –lodge. It is added to nouns to indicate 'science' or 'systematic study'. For example: immunelodge, psycholodge.
9. -dor Y -dora. It is added to adjectives and verbs and indicates attribute, office, instrument, etc. For example: struggledora, styledor, I stockeddor.
10. -teak. It is added to nouns to indicate where something is stored physically or virtually. For example: libraryeca, hemeroteca.
11. -crat. It is added to nouns referring to ideological positions regarding administration and management. For example: tecnócrata, bureaucrata.
12. -itis. It is added to nouns that give names to organs or parts of the body to indicate inflammation or another condition. For example: artritis, gastritis.
13. -polis. In reference to a city. For example: subwaycops, Minneacops.
14. -entity Y -in view of. It is added to verbs to express the performance of the action. For example: I leftentity, I enteredin view of.
15. -ism. It is added to nouns to refer to a political doctrine, religion, artistic current. For example: budism, fascism, cubism.
16. -cide or -cide. It is added to nouns to indicate actions related to the act of killing. For example: insectiacid, genocide.
17. -algia. It is added to nouns that give names to organs or parts of the body to indicate pain. For example: lumbalgia, neuralgia.
18. –acidic or -bear. It is added to adjectives to indicate similarity or hue of an attribute, often color. For example: violacidic, verdbear.
19. -subway. It is added to nouns to refer to instruments used to measure various parameters. For example: thermossubway, hygrosubway.
20. -oma. In medicine it is related to cell proliferation or cancer. For example: melanoma, lymphoma.

More examples?