20 Examples of Suffixes (With Definitions and Examples)

Suffixes are little tails at the end of words that change their meaning or make a new word. It’s like adding a tiny piece to a puzzle to complete the picture. In English, suffixes help us understand more about what a word is doing. For example, adding “ful” to “joy” makes “joyful,” which means full of joy.

Our journey today will explore 20 exciting suffixes that can help you play with words and make your English even better. Let’s dive in and see how these tiny tails can make a big difference in the words we use every day!

What are suffixes?

The letters or words that are added at the end of words to form new words are known as suffixes. For examples: -age/ -tude/ -er etc. Here 20 examples of suffixes are explained with definitions and examples.

-age	a condition	leakage, bondage, marriage
-ile	having the nature of	fragile, juvenile, servile
-er	one who performs the action	reader, driver, maker, painter
-ous	characterized by an attribute	studious, pious, religious, joyous
-ness	state of being	sadness, happiness, rudeness, business
-ee	one who performs an action	interviewee, internee, employee, nominee
-ic	pertaining to	allergic, mythic, domestic, historic
-tude	result of an action	fortitude, magnitude, servitude
-logy	theory	biology, geology, ecology
-ism	doctrine or belief	marxism, Sufism, egotism
-ful	notable for	beautiful, wonderful, doubtful
-ive	having the nature of	creative, punitive, divisive, decisive
-al	an action	denial, removal, approval
-en	made of	golden, wooden, woolen, leaden
-ice	the result of an action	service, cowardice
-tion	state of being	creation, information, confirmation
-less	without	fearless, helpless, endless, tireless
-hood	state of being	boyhood, childhood, manhood
-ship	position held	internship, partnership, kinship
-y	characterized by	smelly, healthy, greedy, wealthy