Suffix Meanings

  Suffix       Meaning             Usage

able, ible	capable of (adjective suffix)	portable - able to be carried legible - able to be read
ac, ic	like, pertaining to	cardiac - pertaining to heart aquatic - pertaining to water
acious, icious	full of	audacious - full of daring, avaricious - full of greed
al	pertaining to	maniacal - insane portal - doorway logical - pertaining to logic
ant, ent	full of	eloquent - pertaining to fluid, effective speech. verdant - green
ary	like, connected with	dictionary - book connected with words honorary - connected with honor
ate	to make (verb suffix)	consecrate - to make holy mitigate - make less severe
ation	that which is (noun suffix)	irritation - that which is irritated
cy	state of being (noun suffix)	democracy - ruled by people obstinacy - obstinate state, stubbornness
eer, er, or	person who (noun suffix)	mountaineer - person who climbs mountains teacher - one who teaches advisor - person who advises
escent	becoming (adjective suffix)	evanescent - tending to vanish pubescent - arriving at puberty
fic	making, doing (adjective suffix)	fantastic - arousing great wonder terrific - arousing great fear
fy	to make (verb suffix)	magnify - to enlarge petrify - turn to stone
iferous	producing, bearing (adjective suffix)	pestiferous - carrying disease vociferous - having a loud voice
il, ile	pertaining to, capable of (adjective suffix)	civil - polite docile - easily taught or led
ism	doctrine, belief (noun suffix)	monotheism - belief in one God socialism - kind of governance
ist	dealer, doer (noun suffix)	realist - one who is realistic dentist - deals with teeth
ity	state of being (noun suffix)	sagacity - state of being wise
ive	like (adjective suffix)	quantitative - concerned with number or volume
ize, ise	to make (verb suffix)	harmonize - make harmonious revolutionize - make revolutionary
oid	resembling, like (adjective suffix)	ovoid - like an egg anthropoid - resembling a human
ose	full of (adjective suffix)	verbose - full of words
osis	condition (noun suffix)	psychosis - diseased mental condition hypnosis - induced sleep
ous	full of (adjective suffix)	nauseous - full of nausea ludicrous - foolish
tude	state of (noun suffix)	fortitude - state of strength certitude - state of certainty

Tag Cloud

• Used car dealers
• Online Learning
• Exercise Machines
• Heart Disease
• Business internet connection

Click on suffix list and you'll be taken to a page with suffix spelling rules in my sister site.

For FREE advanced grammar exercises, check out my sister site at Advanced English Grammar.

Click on Latin and Greek to go to a page full of Latin and Greek root words.

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For additional and complete prefix suffix help -- including many lists of both -- visit my brand new site by clicking on Prefixes Suffixes.

Introduce: The Suffix -ed

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Lesson Type:	Introduce
Grade:	2, 3
Group Size:	Pairs, Small Group, Large Group, Whole Class
Length:	15 minutes
Goal:	Given the suffix -ed, students will generate and use words that contain –ed.

Materials: Board or chart paper

What to Do

Prepare

Write the suffix -ed on the board or on a piece of chart paper for the students to see.

Model/Instruct

1. Introduce the suffix -ed and solicit examples of words that contain -ed.

Today we are going to learn about suffixes. Who knows what a suffix is?

2. Allow time for students to respond.

A suffix is a word part added to the end of a word. It changes the meaning of a word. -ed is a suffix that is used in many words. Acted, finished, and decided are all words that have the suffix -ed in them. Do you know of any other words that have the suffix -ed?

3. As students share, write the responses on the board or on a piece of chart paper. Circle the suffix –ed in each word as it is given.

4. Define the meaning of -ed, as well as words containing the suffix -ed.

Look at the list of words with the suffix -ed. Who knows what -ed means? -ed means “past.” Look at acted. Acted means “to act in the past.” When the suffix -ed is added to act, it changes the meaning of the word. Can anyone tell us what finished means? What about decided?

5. Solicit the meanings of the remaining words from the first step.

Practice

6. Connect words to students’ prior knowledge. Ask students a variety of questions to help them connect their experiences to the words in the list generated in the first step. For example:

Has anyone acted in a play?

Have you all finished the assignment?

Can anyone use decided in a sentence?

Adjust

For Advanced Students:

Encourage these students to use each word on the class-created list in a sentence.

Explain how the parts of speech may change when a given suffix is added. In the case of the suffix -ed, however, both the root word and the word with the suffix added are verbs.

For Struggling Students:

For the students who have difficulty understanding what a suffix is, try presenting the word list above as a series of math equations. For example:

• act + ed = acted
• finish + ed = finished
• decide + ed = decided

For ELL Students:

Point out that some of the same suffixes may exist in their native language. If the suffix is not the same as in English, there may be an equivalent in their native language.