英语常见后缀小结.doc

suffixes
-ment, -tion, -sion, -ion: be added to verbs to form nouns.
Eg. manage-management,commit-commitment,appoint-appointment;

inform-information,civilize-civilization,acquire-acquisition,explain-explanation,congratulate-cong

ratulation, consider-consideration ,produce-production, educate-education, compose-composition

decide-decision,confuse-confusion, impress-impression, depress-depression

-able: be added to verbs to form adjectives meaning “able to be V+ed” , “worthy of being V+ed”, or “ that ought to be V+ed”
Eg. Advise-adivisable; desire-desirable; favor-favorable; consider-considerable;

remark-remarkable; prefer-preferable; drink-drinkable; accept-acceptable

-er, -or: be added to a verb to form a noun which refers to the person who performs the action of the verbs. Sometimes a noun formed in this way refers to an object instead of a person.
eg. sing-singer: one who sings; cook-cooker: a device used for cooking; teach-teacher; visit-visitor;
ski-skier; report-reporter

-ous: be added to nouns to form adjectives with the meaning “having much”, “full of” or “causing”
Eg. Mountain-mountainous: having a lot of mountain; danger-dangerous
joy-joyous: full of joy

-al: be added to nouns to form adjrctives with the meaning “related to” or “of”
culture-cultural; tradition-traditional; tropic-tropical; music-musical; occasion-occasional;

globe-global; nature-natural;

-al; -ing; -age: be added to verbs to form nouns
refuse-refusal; arrive-arrival; remoove-removal;

build-building; shop- shopping; end-ending; begin-beginning

waste-wastage; store-storage; marry-marriage, pass- passage

-hood, -ship, -dom: be added to nouns or occasionally to adjectives to form abstract nouns
Eg. child- childhood, false-falsehood,boy- boyhood,adult- adulthood, brother- brotherhood,

neighbor- neighborhood, lively- livelihood;

friend-friendship, hard- hardship, leader-leadership, relation-relationship, citizen-citizenship,

author-authorship, owner-ownership; king-kingdom, free-freedom, wise-wisedom

-ness: be added to adjectives to form nouns with the meaning of “the quality” or “condition of being”.
greatness, coldness, weakness, kindness, happiness, sadness, strangeness, illness, easiness,

tiredness, darkness, laziness, nervousness, careless

-en: be added to some adjectives and some nouns to form verbs with the meaning of “come to be” or “cause to be”.
sharp+en→sharpen: come or cause to be sharp(er)
heighten, harden, weaken, broaden, lighten,

-ance, -ence: be added to some verbs to form nouns meaning the act of doing something or something that is done
Eg. allow-allowance, endure-endurance, appear-appearance, attend-attendance, hinder-hindrance,

utter-utterance, maintain-maintenance, accept-acceptance, perform-performance, resist-resistance

refer-reference, prefer-preference, occur-occurrence, exist-existence

-ic: be added to a noun to form an adjective
organ-organic, pessimist-pessimistic, energy-energetic, atom-atomic, hero-heroic, optimist-optimistic, economy-economic, history-historic

-ity: be added to an adjective to form an abstract noun
able-ability, capable-capability, curious-curiosity, public-publicity, responsible-responsibility,

rapid-rapidity, mobile-mobility, complex-complexity

-th: be added to verbs or adjectives to form nouns to show behavior, quality, state, situation, etc.
steal- stealth, strong-strength, grow-growth, warm-warmth, deep-deepth, true-treth, long-length,

broad-breadth, wide-width, die-death

-ure: be added to verbs and adjectives to form nouns to show behavior, result of behavior, state, situation, etc.
depart-departure: the act of leaving a place
moist-moisture: dampness, wetness, humidity
More examples: closure, failure, seizure, pressure, disclosure, exposure

-eer: be added to nouns to form agent nouns-names of persons who are specially engaged in a certain kind of activity, work or occupation that is related to the noun.
Eg. engine-engineer: a person who designs or builds machines, engines, roads, etc.
More examples: mountain- mountaineer, profit- profiteer

-ward: be added to nouns and adverbs to form adjectives and adverbs with the meaning of “towards”, “facing”, and “to”.
upward: toward or in a higher place or condition
downward, backward, southward, homeward, inward

-ward(s): be added to nouns or prepositions to form adverbs with the meaning of “toward a particular direction or place” .
home-homeward (s): toward (s) home ; outwards: towards the outside

-an: be added to 1) the name of a place in order to form an adjective or noun that describes or refers to someone from that place, or 2) the name of a famous person in order to form an adjective or noun that describes or refers to something or someone that is connected with or typical of that person’s work or the time at which they lived.
America- American, Africa- African, Europe- European, Asia- Asian, Italy-Italian
Shakespeare- Shakespearean, Victoria- Victorian, Elizabeth- Elizabethan,
Hollywood- Hollywoodian

-ify: be added to adjectives or nouns to form verbs that describe the process by which a state, quality, or condition is brought about.
simplify: make something simple
beauty-beautify, pure-purify, just- justify, intense-intensify, terrible-terrify, glory-glorify,

identity-identify, example-exemplify

-ery/ry: be added to nouns or adjectives to form new nouns with the meaning of “a group or collection of” or “the state or character of”. It can also be added to verbs or nouns to form new nouns with the meaning of “a place where something happens or is made” or referring to an action.
brave- bravery, machine- machinery, bake- bakery, rob- robbery, deliver- delivery, discover-

discovery, nurse- nursery, scene- scenery, jewel- jewelry

-ist: be added to nouns or adjectives to form new nouns with the meaning of “a person believing in practicing, concerned with, or doing the specified action”.
Marx- Marxist: a person believing in Marxism
violin- violinist: a person who plays violin
active-activist, terror- terrorist, ideal- idealist, capital- capitalist, art- artist, novel- novelist, tour-

tourist, biology-biologist

-like: be added to nouns to form adjectives with the meaning of “being similar” or “resembling”.
-ish: be added to nouns to form adjectives with the meaning of “of the nature of” or “resembling”.
The two suffixes can also be added to adjectives to form new adjectives with the meaning of “having a small amount of the characteristics or quality” described by the original adjective.
child- childlike, lady- ladylike, child- childish, fool- foolish

-cy: be added to adjectives and occasionally to nouns to form nouns with the meaning of “the state or quality of being…”. Note that the final “t” or “te” of adjectives is, in most cases, replaced by “cy”.
pregnant-pregnancy: the state of being pregnant,
accurate-accuracy: the quality of being accurate
dependent-dependency, frequent-frequency, secret-secrecy, urgent-urgency, private-privacy,

intimate-intimacy, fluent-fluency, consistent-consistency

-ology and –ics occur in nouns with the meaning of “the study or science of”.
biology: the study of living things such as plants and animals
methodology: a system of methods or principles for doing a particular thing
physics: the scientific study of physical objects and substances, and of natural forces
politics: the study of political power and systems of government
technology, psychology, economics, classics

ee-: be added to some verbs to refer to the person to whom the action is being done.
employ- employee: a person who is employed
train- trainee: a person who is being trained to do a particular job
Interviewee, addressee, divorcee

ee-: can also be added to some verbs to form nouns to refer to someone who has performed a particular action.
escape+-ee→escapee: someone who has escaped from captivity
devote+-ee→devotee: someone who is very enthusiastic about a subject or an activity
Retiree

-ance: be added to some verbs to form nouns which refer to the action, process, or state indicated be the verbs.
attend→ attendance, endure→ endurance, accept→ acceptance, rely→reliance

admit→admittance, defy→defiance, observe→observance, tolerate→tolerance

-ful: be added to nouns to form adjectives with the meaning of “full of” , “giving” , “having” .
use-useful, delight-delightful, hope-hopeful, help-helpful, success-successful, beauty-beautiful,

harm-harmful, doubt-doubtful,

-less: be added to nouns to form adjectives with the meaning of “without”, “not giving” .
child-childless, doubt-doubtless, care-careless, speech- speechless, harm-harmless, rest- restless

-ze(-ise): be added to adjectives or nouns to form verbs with the meaning of “causing” , “making”
morden- mordenize (mordenise), apology-apologize(apologise), real-realize, social-socialize,

normal-normalize,, national-nationalize, organ-organize

-ly: be added to adjectives to form adverbs with the meaning of “in a … manner” .
happy-happily: in a happy manner , strange-strangely: in a strange manner, sad-sadly, original-originally

Some suffixes of : “-ly” are used to form adjectives:
friend-friendly, dead-deadly, cost-costly, week-weekly, world-worldly, man-manly, order-orderly,

sick-sickly, earth-earthly,

-ive: form adjectives
act-active, attract- attractive, protect- protective, progreess- progreessive,

-ary: form adjectives
element-ary, second- secondary, custom- customary, moment- momentary,
-some: form adjectives with the meaning of “ producing; likely to”;
Fearsome 可怕的 quarrelsome 爱吵架的
wholesome ， wearisome， troublesome， lonesome
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