Happy young female athlete being applauded by supporters

caileyjohanna Last updated: September 18, 2023

40 Suffixes in English and Fun Ways To Learn Them

What if I told you there is a faster way to learn English?

Suffixes are letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning.

By learning suffixes, you can learn the meaning of hundreds of new words.

In this blog post, I will go into how to learn suffixes in English—and potentially fast-track your journey to English language mastery.

What Are English Suffixes?
Get Ahead in the Fluency Race with These 40 Suffixes in English
Fun Ways to Learn Suffixes in English

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

What Are English Suffixes?

Did you know many English words can be broken down into roots, prefixes and suffixes?

A root word is a word that exists on its own but can be modified by the addition of a prefix or suffix (or both).

A prefix is a letter or group of letters added to the beginning of a root word to change its meaning.

On the other hand, a suffix is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a root word.

In this post, we will talk about the ways suffixes affect the meaning of a word.

Why should you bother learning suffixes?

Suffixes can help you pick up hundreds of new vocabulary words.

For example, the suffix -ful means “full.” Therefore, the word joyful means full of joy, the word hopeful means full of hope and so on.

However, note that not every word ending in a group of letters is using them as a suffix. For example, the words Batman and can use the letters “an” at the end, but “an” is not a suffix for these words.

With some practice, you will learn the difference and become better at spotting which word endings are acting as suffixes.

Get Ahead in the Fluency Race with These 40 Suffixes in English

Let’s get started with some of the most common suffixes in English.

One important thing to note is that sometimes, multiple suffixes have the same meanings. For example, -ible and -able both mean capable . This is because the English language has adopted different words and suffixes from other languages over time.

Also, as you will see, a word with a suffix can be an adjective and noun, a noun and verb or an adjective and adverb.

Suffixes for Adjectives

Suffixes for Adjectives	Meaning	Examples
-able	capable	adaptable — capable of adapting noticeable — capable of being noticed
-ary	relating to	solitary — relating to solitude disciplinary — relating to discipline
-er	more	bigger — more big taller — more tall
-est	most	smallest — the most small cutest — the most cute
-ful	full of; having	careful — having care wonderful — having the ability to inspire wonder
-ible	capable	credible — capable of receiving credit terrible — capable of causing terror
-ic	relating to	poetic — relating to poetry photographic — relating to photography
-ish	characteristic; quality	childish — having the characteristics of a child softish — having some characteristics of being soft
-less	without	meaningless — without meaning careless — without care hopeless — without hope
-like	characteristics or similarities to	lifelike — sharing similarities with something alive childlike — having some characteristics of a child
-ous	having the qualities of	cautious — having qualities of caution generous — having qualities of generosity
-y	made up or characterized by	fruity — made up of fruit or a fruit flavor sticky — characterized by the way it sticks

Suffixes for Nouns

Suffixes for Nouns	Meaning	Examples
-age	action; the process of	passage — the action of passing through marriage — the process of being married
-al	act; the process of	refusal — the act of refusing denial — the process of denying
-ant	a person who	servant — a person who serves assistant — a person who assists
-cracy	power or rule	democracy — rule by the entire or most of the population aristocracy — the highest class, those in power
-dom	place; state of being	kingdom — the place where the king rules boredom — in a state of being bored freedom — a state of being free
-er	person who	carpenter — a person who does carpentry teacher — a person who teaches
-ess	female	lioness — a female lion actress — a female actor
-ette	smaller	kitchenette — a small or partial kitchen cigarette — similar to a cigar, but smaller
-hood	state of	motherhood — the state of being a mother childhood —the state of being a child
-ion	the action of	celebration — the action of celebrating completion — the action of completing or having completed
-ism	belief	communism — belief in a communal society theism — belief in a god or gods
-ity	having the quality of	activity — having the quality of being active simplicity — having the quality of being simple
-log	speech	dialog — speech between two people
-ment	the action or result of	enchantment — the result of enchanting argument — the action of arguing movement — the action of moving
-ness	state of being	sickness — state of being sick gentleness — state of being gentle
-or	person who	actor — a person who acts narrator — a person who narrates
-ship	position	citizenship — the position as a citizen of a country friendship — the position of being friends hardship — a hard or difficult position
-th	quality	depth — having the quality of being deep warmth — having the quality of being warm
-ure	condition	failure — the condition of having failed closure — the condition of being closed

Suffixes for Verbs

Suffixes for Verbs	Meaning	Examples
-ize	become	civilize — to become civil humanize — to become human socialize — to become social
-en	to become	soften — to become soft loosen — to become loose
-ify	make or become	simplify — to make simple solidify — to make solid

Suffixes for Adverbs

Suffixes for Adverbs	Meaning	Examples
-ward	direction	toward — in the direction of backward — moving in the opposite direction of, or moving away

Suffixes for Adjectives/Nouns

Suffixes for Adjectives/Nouns	Meaning	Examples
-ac	related to	cardiac — related to the heart (“cardio” is short for cardiovascular, which means “related to the heart”) - adjective maniac — related to mania - noun
-an	relating or belonging to	American — from or belonging to the continent of America or the United States - adjective mathematician — related to or belonging to the field of mathematics - noun

Suffixes for Nouns/Verbs

Suffixes for Nouns/Verbs	Meaning	Examples
-cycle	circle	bicycle — a vehicle with two circular wheels - noun recycle — a circle of reusing resources - verb
-eer	engaged or involved in; a person who is engaged or involved in	volunteer — a person engaged in voluntary activities (noun); the act of engaging in voluntary activities (verb) engineer — a person involved in designing engines and machines (noun); the act of being involved in designing engines and machines (verb)

Suffixes for Adjectives/Adverbs

Suffixes for Adjectives/Adverbs	Meaning	Examples
-wise	direction	clockwise — in the direction the clock moves lengthwise — in the direction of the length, not width

Fun Ways to Learn Suffixes in English

Learning suffixes may seem complicated and difficult at first glance. Not to mention, trying to learn 40 of them at once can be intimidating!

But don’t get discouraged.

We’ve gathered some resources to help you study without feeling overwhelmed. Here are some fun study tips to get you learning suffixes in English with ease.

Online Quizzes

One great way to study suffixes is by taking an online quiz. And there are several you can choose from!

Skillswise. Created by the BBC, this resource has quizzes for different levels of learning. You can start with their beginner quizzes and work your way up to the more advanced levels. These quizzes cover suffixes but also help you study prefixes and root words.

ELTbase. On this online site, you fill in the blank with the correct suffix. This quiz is designed for advanced learners, but beginners can also use it to learn the meanings of different suffixes and see how much they have already learned.

SoftSchools. Like ELTbase, this has a fill-in-the-blank suffix quiz. This online quiz is straightforward and simple. It is a great way to practice the suffixes you have learned and see how they are used in common English words.

Authentic English Materials

Learning does not need to be limited to standard language textbooks. You can learn English suffixes while you watch movies or TV shows, read books or comics or even watch videos online.

Subtitles are very helpful for finding suffixes in movies, TV series and other types of videos. For example, the subtitles on the video-based language learning program FluentU are interactive. That means you can click on them to learn the definitions of words and see what other clips include them.

When you’re studying using the methods above, try writing a list of words with suffixes. Then, see how many words have the same suffix to help you better understand their meaning.

Lists

Lists help you focus on important suffixes. Once you learn these, you will start noticing them in your daily English conversations.

Try memorizing the above list of 40 suffixes and their meanings.

Plus, you can add to this list any time you hear a new suffix. Write it down, along with its meaning and some examples of words that include it.

You can also add example words and phrases to the list. By taking note of common words with suffixes, you will become even more familiar with their definitions and start noticing them in other words, too.

Do you feel confident in your English suffixes yet? Keep practicing and start listening for them in conversations, movies and books.

This list should help you master a few of the most common suffixes in English. Keep adding to it and in no time, you will be amazed by how many new words you can understand!