a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to make another, usually of a different word class. For example the suffix ‘-ness’ is added to ‘happy’ to make the noun ‘happiness’, and ‘ful’ is added to ‘hope’ to make the adjective ‘hopeful’.
Synonyms and related words
Linguistic terms relating to word formation and phrase building
affix
affixation
anaphora
suffix
noun countable linguistics
US /ˈsʌfɪks/
Other entries for this word
diminutive suffixnoun
Word Forms
singular
suffix
plural
suffixes
DEFINITIONS1
1
a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to make another, usually of a different word class. For example the suffix “-ness” is added to “happy” to make the noun “happiness”, and “ful” is added to “hope” to make the adjective “hopeful”
Synonyms and related words
Linguistic terms relating to word formation and phrase building