suffix

American  

[suhf-iks, suhf-iks, suh-fiks] / ˈsʌf ɪks, ˈsʌf ɪks, səˈfɪks /

noun

• suffixes
  plural

1. Grammar. an affix that follows the element to which it is added, as -ly in kindly.

2. something added to the end of something else.

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verb (used with object)

• suffixes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• suffixed,
  past participle,  past
• suffixing
  present participle

1. Grammar. to add as a suffix.

2. to affix at the end of something.

3. to fix or put under.

verb (used without object)

Grammar.

• suffixes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• suffixed,
  past participle,  past
• suffixing
  present participle

1. to admit a suffix.

2. to add a suffix.

suffix British  

/ ˈsʌfɪksəl, sʌˈfɪkʃən /

noun

1. grammar an affix that follows the stem to which it is attached, as for example -s and -ness in dogs and softness Compare prefix

2. anything that is added at the end of something else

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verb

1. (tr) grammar to add (a morpheme) as a suffix to the end of a word

2. (tr) to add (something) at the end of a sentence, comment, or piece of writing

suffix Cultural  

1. A letter or a group of letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning. For example, adding the suffix -ter to the adjective hot turns it into the comparative adjective hotter, and adding the suffix -ly to the adjective quick turns it into the adverb quickly. Other examples of words with suffixes are: “will ing,” “manage ment,” “service able,” “harmon ize,” and “joy ful.” (Compare prefix.)

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Usage

What does suffix mean? A suffix is a letter or group of letters placed at the end of a word to create a new word. For example, you can add the suffix -y to sleep to make sleepy or the suffix -er to loud to make louder. Suffixes are a handy tool of grammar that allows you to make a new word with a meaning that is closely related to the word the suffix is being attached to. Suffixes sometimes change the part of speech of the words they are added to. The verb create, for example, becomes the noun creation when you add the suffix -tion to it. To make create an adjective, you’d add the suffix -ive to make creative. Sometimes, a suffix changes the meaning of the word it is attached to. For example, the word defense means protection, but if you add the suffix -less, you end up with the adjective defenseless, which means unprotected.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• suffixation
  noun
• suffixion
  noun
• suffixal
  adjective
• unsuffixed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• suffixes
  plural

Participles

• suffixing
  present
• suffixed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• suffix
  simple
• suffixes
  simple
• have suffixed
  perfect
• has suffixed
  perfect
• am suffixing
  progressive
• are suffixing
  progressive
• is suffixing
  progressive
• have been suffixing
  perfect progressive
• has been suffixing
  perfect progressive

Past

• suffixed
  simple
• had suffixed
  perfect
• was suffixing
  progressive
• were suffixing
  progressive
• had been suffixing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will suffix
  simple
• will have suffixed
  perfect
• will be suffixing
  progressive
• will have been suffixing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of suffix

First recorded in 1595–1605; from New Latin suffixum, noun use of neuter of Latin suffixus, past participle of suffīgere “to attach on top of ,” equivalent to suf- suf- + fīgere “to fasten”; see fix

Explanation

In linguistics, the suffix is part of the word that's added onto the end, like the -ish in foolish. When a suffix is added to a word, it changes the form, like when adding the suffix -y turns the noun soap into the adjective soapy. You can also use suffix as a verb. If you suffix the word cake with -less, you end up cakeless, which is pretty sad, especially if it's your birthday.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

suffix suffixes suffixed suffixing

Others are just using the suffix as a handy meme, far removed from its original context.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

In a rare move, he dropped the Russian "-ov" suffix from his own surname back in 2007.

From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026

The word “logic” comes from the Greek term “logos” which is the root for our suffix -ology.

From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2024

And because Jefferson's original moniker was spelled as Megalonyx, any other subsequent spellings of the name, like some that utilize the -onix suffix, are incorrect.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 26, 2024

NOTE.—This suffix is used only in words of French-Latin origin.

From New Word-Analysis by William Swinton

And while “-boy” and “-girl” are both common gendered suffixes used across comic history, the girls have appeared more frequently in cinematic adaptations.

From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2026

The suffixes “ist” and “ism,” as I’ve said before in these pages, assume conscious belief.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026

She closely reads passages from their textbooks, breaks apart prefixes and suffixes and identifies root words.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2024

"For those who want .ai suffixes, I'm seeing sales in the low five-figures, and sometimes in the six figures," he says.

From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2023

Once he had swallowed a good portion of the English vocabulary, he began to taste the familiar ingredients, the Greek seasoning in the roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Tamar-kali — a Biblical name suffixed with the Sanskrit word for “black one” — hails from New York, but she’s quick to acknowledge her ancestry of enslaved Africans in the American South.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 9, 2020

In neighboring states, and in some tribal areas, the “holou” is suffixed with bandar, monkey.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 18, 2018

“Every Sculpture Needs a Trapdoor” doubles down: A mishmash of ecru plates is impaled by a cylinder, then suffixed with a photocopied page from an essay on Sandback by the artist Andrea Fraser.

From New York Times ● Jun. 8, 2017

His answers are always suffixed with an awkward "... but I don't know", and he describes the popularity of the XX and James Blake as the rise of "groovy music" .

From The Guardian ● Apr. 1, 2011

Finally, in its suffixed form woid-o, it became the Sanskrit word veda.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Of course, the extraordinary four-decade-old scandal — which sparked the media’s penchant for suffixing every scandal with “gate” — stays with us because of its lasting political effects and lessons for the country.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 29, 2015

The ubiquity of “Design” has rendered itself in many forms, prefixing and suffixing subjects including graphic, product, industrial, computer, systems, architecture, community, environments, molecules, and more.

From Forbes ● Oct. 10, 2012

The Semitic languages, for instance, are prefixing, suffixing, and symbolic at one and the same time.

From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Edward Sapir

Languages in India, families of, 70. —— isolating, combinatory, and inflectional, 79. —— suffixing, prefixing, affixing, and infixing, 85.

From Chips from a German Workshop - Volume IV Essays chiefly on the Science of Language by F. Max (Friedrich Max) Müller

If a certain verb expresses a certain tense by suffixing, the probability is strong that it expresses its other tenses in an analogous fashion and that, indeed, all verbs have suffixed tense elements.

From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Edward Sapir