Nouns.—The most important are:—

-ard, -art, denoting habit, or possession of a quality in an excessive degree: braggart, coward, drunkard, laggard, reynard, sluggard, wizard.

-craft, strength, skill, cunning: woodcraft, priestcraft, witchcraft.

-d, -t, -th, suffixed to roots: flood (from the root of flow), seed (sow); drift (drive), drought (dry), flight (fly); death (die), birth (bear), sloth (slow), health (heal).

-dom, authority, dominion, quality, condition: earldom, kingdom, christendom, Saxondom, wisdom, freedom, serfdom.

-en, gives a diminutive meaning: chicken (little cock), kitten, maiden.

-er, denotes agent: instrument; belonging to (of places): brazier, farmer, fuller, hater, leader, saw(y)er, writer; grater, heater; Londoner.

-hood, (-head), condition, order, collection: brotherhood, childhood, Godhood, knighthood, manhood, priesthood, wifehood; Godhead.

-ing, (participle) act of, result of act: farthing (fourth), dwelling, feeling, riding. It is collective in clothing, shipping.

-kin, diminutive: bodkin, firkin, lambkin, mannikin.

-le or -l, diminutive, means: bundle, handle, runnel, saddle (= little seat), satchel, sickle.

-ling, diminutive, sometimes contemptuous: darling, duckling, firstling, gosling, hireling, nestling, seedling.

-lock, state: wedlock.

-ness, forms abstract nouns from adjectives, quality, state: goodness, holiness, weakness.

-ock, diminutive: bullock, hillock, paddock (= a little park), Pollock (= little Paul).

-m, or -om, forms nouns from verbs: bloom (from blow), gloom (glow), seam (sew), team (tow).

-red, state, sometimes collective, quality: hatred, kindred; Mildred (mild in counsel), Ethelred (noble in counsel).

-ric, office, dominion: bishopric.

-ship, state, office: clerkship, fellowship, horsemanship, lordship, stewardship, worship (= worthship).

-stead, place: bedstead, homestead, instead.

-ster denotes an agent, (originally a woman), a person who does something with skill or as an occupation: spinster, chorister, huckster, maltster, songster, tapster, roadster; baxster (bake-ster), brewster, webster (the woman who weaves). It is depreciative in: gamester, punster, oldster, trickster, youngster.

-th, -t, state, quality, act, number in order: dearth, filth, mirth, wealth, worth, theft, tenth.

-ther, -der, or -ter denotes an agent: father, mother, brother, sister; bladder (blow), rudder (row), laughter, water (wet), winter (wind).

-wright, work or workman: millwright, playwright, shipwright, wheelwright.

-ward, keeper: hayward, steward (= sty-keeper), woodward.

-y, -ie, diminutive: baby, lassie, Tommy, Willie.

Adjectives.—Some of the more important are:—

-ed, -d, the past participle ending, possession: honored, landed (possessing lands), talented.

-en, participial ending, also denotes material: drunken, given, hewn (= hewen), molten, river; flaxen, golden, silken, silvern, oaken, wooden; heathen (= belonging to the country).

-erly, -ern, direction, section: southerly, eastern.

-fast, firm: rootfast, shamefaced (= shamefast), steadfast.

-fold, times: fourfold, manifold.

-ful, full: artful, hopeful, needful, sinful.

-ish, similarity, pertaining or belonging to, somewhat: boyish, brutish, foolish, slavish, English, French, Irish, Scottish, Scotch, Welsh; blackish, whitish.

-le, weakens the root: brittle, fickle, little.

-less, without: bloodless, childless, fadeless, toothless.

-like, -ly, like: childlike, Godlike, ghastly (= ghostly), womanly.

-ow, modern form of old Eng. -u: callow, fallow, narrow, yellow.

-right, straight (= direct): downright, forthright, upright.

-some, like, full: blithesome (showing gladness), burdensome, gamesome, gladsome, irksome, winsome (wyn = joy).

-teen, ten: thirteen, etc.

-ty, tens: thirty, etc.

-ward, course, direction: awkward (awk = Icelandic afug, back foremost), cityward(s), landward, westward.

-wise, way, manner: lengthwise, likewise, nowise. The word ways is often substituted: endways, sideways.

-y, -ey, like, of the nature of, covered with: bloody, crafty, dusty, mighty, stormy, tricky.

Verbs.—

-en, is causative, make: cheapen, deepen, gladden, quicken.

-er, denotes frequency, (energy): chatter, linger, spatter (spot), splutter, sputter (spout), waver, whimper (whine).

-le, also denotes frequency, sometimes energy: handle, jingle (chink), joggle, shuffle (shove), sparkle, startle, tickle, tipple, whittle.

Adverbs.—Certain suffixes occur which have already been given, as:—

-ly, manner: awkwardly, falsely, nobly.

-wise, manner: crosswise, otherwise.

-ward, direction: hitherward.

Noun Suffixes.—The most important of these are:—

-acy, -cy, rank, office, state: abbacy, bankruptcy, captaincy, magistracy, papacy, tenancy.

-ade, state, place of or for: blockade, collonade, promenade, serenade.

-age, makes an abstract or collective noun, act, state: beverage, bondage, courage, homage, marriage, tonnage, vintage, cordage, hermitage, plumage, village.

-al, pertaining to, possessing, act of: animal (anima = breath of life), canal, cardinal, hospital, withdrawal.

-an, belonging to: American, artisan, Christian, librarian, pagan, publican, chaplain, captain.

-and, -end, that which is to be: memorand-um, -a, agend-a, multiplicand; dividend, legend, minuend, subtrahend.

-ant, -ent (participle), one who (does): assistant, combatant, lieutenant, litigant, agent, client, patient, regent.

-ar, one who (is or does): scholar, vicar.

-ary, place for: apiary, granary, library, seminary. It also designates a trade, profession, business: actuary, commissary, lapidary, notary, secretary; incendiary, voluptuary.

-ate, agent, state, office: advocate, consulate, curate, legate, postulate, protectorate, pontificate.

-ce, -ice, form abstract nouns: benefice, device, justice, palace, service.

-cle, -cel, diminutive: corpuscle, parcel.

-ee, (Fr. form of -ate), person to whom: assignee, employee, grantee, legatee, trustee, vendee.

-el, -le, form diminutives: chapel, libel, buckle, castle.

-er, -eer, -ier, one who (does): mariner, auctioneer, pioneer, brigadier.

-er, place: larder, saucer.

-ern, place: cavern, cistern, tavern.

-ery, -ry, place: cemetery, foundry, laundry, nunnery, surgery.

-ery, -ry, condition, quality, collection, production: slavery, bravery, treachery, finery, peasantry, carpentry, poetry.

-ess, feminine agent: empress, governess, sorceress.

-et, -let, diminutive: coronet, floweret, lancet, puppet, ticket, bracelet, chaplet, eaglet; etiquette (= a little ticket).

-icle, diminutive: article, icicle, particle.

-ion, -sion, -tion, action, process, state, result: action, legislation, mansion, opinion, position, rebellion.

-ive, who or that which (does or is): fugitive, native, representative.

-men, -me, -ment, denoting result accomplished, instrument, state; regimen, regime, amendment, document, ornament, banishment.

-mony, quality, state, act: acrimony, matrimony, sanctimony, testimony, ceremony.

-on, -one, denotes greatness: clarion, flagon, million, trombone. It appears as -oon in balloon, dragoon, saloon.

-or, agent, quality, act: emperor, governor, ardour, behaviour, savor, clamour.

-sel, diminutive: damsel (= little dame), morsel.

-t, -ot, agent, having passion for: prophet, patriot, zealot.

-ter, person who: master, minister.

-tor, -trix, agent: actor, competitor, pastor, executrix, testatrix.

-tude, condition, quality: altitude, fortitude, servitude, multitude.

-ty, quality, state of: charity, docility, frailty, poverty, vanity.

-ule, -cule, diminutive: globule, spherule, animalcule, molecule.

-ure, -ture, act of, thing done: capture, departure, architecture, manufacture, creature.

-y, condition, collection: victory, company, family, society.

Adjective Suffixes.—The Latin (and French) suffixes are used extensively to form adjectives. The following may be noted:—

-able, able, capable of: amiable, arable, capable, considerable, friable (= easily crumbled), lovable, portable.

-aceous, containing, like: argillaceous (clayey), crustaceous (with crust-like shell), farinaceous (far, corn), herbaceous.

-al, pertaining to: ancestral, bestial, communal, final, legal, tidal, vernal.

-an, pertaining to, belonging to: Arabian, civilian, human, partisan, sylvan.

-ant, -ent, (be)-ing, (do)-ing: abundant, cognizant, defiant, errant, observant, mordant, verdant, adjacent, consistent, convalescent, crescent, diffident, effervescent.

-ar, like, belonging to: angular, circular, lunar, secular.

-ary, pertaining to: binary (double), capillary, honorary, military, sanitary, tributary, visionary.

-ate, having the quality expressed by the root: delicate, deliberate, fortunate, intricate, obdurate.

-atic, pertaining to: aquatic, fanatic (fanum, temple), lunatic.

-esque, like, partaking of: arabesque, burlesque, grotesque, picturesque.

-ible, able: credible, divisible, edible, flexible, frangible, tangible, visible.

-ic, pertaining to, like: domestic, gigantic, hectic, lyric, metallic, poetic.

-ical (-ic + al), pertaining to: angelical, chemical, nautical, theatrical.

-id, quality: acid, candid, limpid, morbid, sordid.

-il, pertaining to: civil.

-ile, like -able, -ible: docile, ductile, fragile, mobile, prehensile, versatile.

-ile, like -il: hostile, infantile, juvenile, mercantile, senile.

-ine, pertaining to, partaking of: adamantine, alkaline, aquiline, canine, clandestine, divine, feline, saline.

-ive, inclined to, tending to: abusive, cohesive, corrective, determinative, fugitive, plaintive, relative, seductive.

-ite, like -ate: definite, exquisite, favourite.

-lent, full of, having (to excess): corpulent, fraudulent, opulent, truculent, violent (vi-s = force).

-ory, inclined to, pertaining to: amatory, accessory, advisory, illusory, prohibitory, sensory, valedictory.

-ose, containing, abounding in (often to excess): bellicose, comatose, globose, grandiose, jocose, verbose.

-ous, like -ose: ambitious, arduous, assiduous, bulbous, furious, piteous, poisonous, omnivorous, riotous.

-und, inclined to, possessing: jocund, moribund, rotund, rubicund.

Verb Suffixes.—These are few:—

-ate, originally past participle suffix, as am-at-us, loved: celebrate, donate, eradicate, perforate, vaccinate.

-fy, make: beautify, fructify, modify, notify, revivify.

-ish, make, do: admonish, cherish, establish, finish, relish.

Nouns:—

-asm, quality, that which: enthusiasm, sarcasm (= flesh-tearing).

-ast, one who (does): elegiast, enthusiast, gymnast, symposiast.

-ic (-ics), an art, science: logic, music, phthisic (asthma), physic (science of medicine), ethics, physics, politics, statics, tactics.

-isk, diminutive: asterisk (= little star), obelisk (little spit or pillar).

-ism, act of, result, state, doctrine: atheism, baptism, criticism, euphemism, socialism, schism, syllogism, Anglicanism, stoicism.

-ist, denotes practice, occupation: apologist, chemist, copyist, elegist, eulogist, Hebraist, organist.

-ma, -m, result produced: asthma, diorama, dogma, drama, apothegm, theorem.

-sis, act of, result: analysis, emphasis, genesis, periphrasis, synthesis.

-sy, like -sis: apostasy, epilepsy, hypocrisy, idiosyncrasy, palsy (= paraly-sis), poesy.

-t, -te, one who (does or is): apostate, comet (= long-haired), planet (= wanderer), poet (= maker).

-ter, (-tre), place of, instrument: center, meter, philter (love-potion), theatre (thea-, see).

-y, denotes quality, state, science: autonomy, botany, geography, geometry, logomachy, melancholy, monarchy, philosophy, theology, theory.

Adjectives:—

-ac, pertaining to: cardiac, elegiac, hypochondriac, Syriac.

-ic, belonging to, like; aromatic, athletic, authentic, despotic, frantic, Hebraic, hypnotic, idiotic, monarchic, polytechnic, theoretic.

Verbs:—

-ize (-ise), do, make or cause to be: baptize, criticise, dogmatize, Hellenize, ostracize, proselytize, theorize. It is often attached to stems not derived from Greek: anglicize, authorize, Judaize, botanize, fertilize, naturalize, pulverize, scrutinize, terrorize.