suffixation
Adding word endings
Suffixation is the process of adding a suffix to a word—an ending that modifies meaning or grammatical function.
Adding -ness to *dark* creates *darkness*; adding -ed to *walk* creates *walked*.
The term appears mainly in linguistics and language instruction: English relies heavily on suffixation for word formation.
Word naming something
- verbAction-expressing word
- adjectiveNoun-describing word type
- adverbVerb or adjective modifier
- gerundVerb-derived noun form
participle · infinitive · part-of-speech · category · syntactic · ending · marker · obligatory
Smallest meaningful language unit
- rootUnderground absorbing structure
- stemPlant's central axis
- baseSupporting bottom structure
- postfixAppend to end
phonology · agglutination · infix · productivity · assimilation · deletion · syllable · phoneme
Verb form variation system
- declensionNoun form variation
- pluralizationForming the plural
- tenseStrained or nervous
- aspectFeature or dimension
mood · voice · case · number · gender · agreement · paradigm · singular
Creating new vocabulary items
- neologismNewly created expression
- coinageInvented term or currency
- compoundingElements merging progressively
- blendCombine into mixture
portmanteau · backformation · conversion · clipping · acronym · nominalization · adjectivization · verbalization
noun
Word naming something
gerund · participle · infinitive · part-of-speech · category · syntactic · ending · marker · obligatory · optional
morpheme
Smallest meaningful language unit
postfix · phonology · agglutination · infix · productivity · assimilation · deletion · syllable · phoneme
conjugation
Verb form variation system
- declensionNoun form variation
- pluralizationForming the plural
- tenseStrained or nervous
aspect · mood · voice · case · number · gender · agreement · paradigm · singular · plural
word-formation
Creating new vocabulary items
- neologismNewly created expression
- coinageInvented term or currency
- compoundingElements merging progressively
blend · portmanteau · backformation · conversion · clipping · acronym · nominalization · adjectivization · verbalization · agentive
suffixationsubtraction
Removing quantities mathematically
back-formation · zero derivation · clipping · truncation · conversion
prefix, affix, suffix, suffixes, suffixed, affixation, suffixal, prefixation