English Affixes: A Comprehensive Guide to Prefixes and Suffixes

English Affixes

Suffixes

Noun Suffixes (added to nouns)

• -eer: profiteer, lanceer
• -er: teenager
• -ess: hostess, priestess
• -ette: cigarette, kitchenette
• -let: booklet
• -ian: politician, technician
• -ion: companion
• -ist: pianist, guitarist, violinist
• -age: wastage, mileage
• -dom: kingdom
• -ery: slavery
• -hood: adulthood, neighborhood
• -ism: criticism, terrorism
• -ship: friendship, sportsmanship, leadership

Noun Suffixes (added to verbs)

• -ant: assistant, consultant, informant
• -ee: employee, trainee
• -ent: respondent, dependent
• -er: singer, painter, dancer, printer, computer
• -or: conqueror, visitor
• -age: linkage, carriage
• -al: dismissal, survival, proposal
• -ance: attendance, performance
• -ion: protection, conversation, decision
• -ence: existence, persistence, preference
• -ing: building, training, feeling, saving
• -ment: statement, judgement, punishment, agreement
• -y: discovery, assembly

Noun Suffixes (added to adjectives)

• -ity: popularity, productivity, civility
• -ness: happiness, sadness, darkness
• -dom: freedom, wisdom

Adjective Suffixes (added to nouns)

• -ed: wooded
• -ful: successful, respectful, powerful, careful
• -ish: childish, foolish (can also be added to adjectives: brownish, coldish)
• -less: priceless, nameless, endless
• -like: ladylike, dreamlike
• -ly: friendly, cowardly, lovely, smoky, bloody
• -al: cultural, natural, national, residential
• -esque: picturesque
• -ic/-ical: economic, historical, classical
• -ous: marvelous, famous, dangerous
• -ent: eloquent

Adjective Suffixes (added to verbs)

• -able: washable, countable, drinkable, advisable
• -ible: permissible
• -ive: active, decisive, attractive
• -ent: different, excellent

Verb Suffixes (added to nouns, always with "to")

• -ate: to originate, to liquidate
• -en: to darken, to strengthen
• -ify: to beautify, to classify
• -ize: to modernize, to symbolize

Adverb Suffixes

• -ly: calmly, naturally, publicly
• -wards: homeward, downwards, onwards
• -wise: clockwise, education-wise

Prefixes

• in-: incomplete, intolerable, incorrect
• im-: impatient, immeasurable, immoral
• ir-: irresponsible, irregular, illegal (usually with adjectives)
• un-: undamaged, unopposed, unfriendly, unlucky, unemployment, unbelievable (with adjectives or nouns)
• dis-: dishonest (adjective), discredit (noun), to discontinue (verb), disappear, disadvantage, disloyal
• over-: to overwork, to overreact, to oversleep, overconfident (with verbs meaning "more than normal")
• fore-: to forecast, forearm, foresee, forewarn (with nouns and verbs meaning "before" or in warnings)
• pre-: preschool (noun), to preset (verb), precook, pretest, preview (with nouns and verbs meaning "before")
• post-: postwar (noun), to postpone (verb) (with nouns and verbs meaning "after")
• mis-: misunderstanding (noun), to misjudge (verb), mislead, misidentify, mismatch (with verbs and nouns meaning "bad" or "wrong")
• inter-: interaction (noun), to interact (verb), interactive (adjective), interface, interchange, international (with nouns, verbs, and adjectives meaning "between")