Word Parts: Suffixes

-able

Meaning: capable of, worthy of, tending to | Examples: formidable, viable, culpable

-acious

Meaning: inclined to, abounding in | Examples: audacious, voracious, perspicacious

-acity

Meaning: state, quality, or capacity | Examples: audacity, capacity, tenacity

-al

Meaning: relating to (adjective) | Examples: categorical, colloquial, ephemeral, equivocal, hypothetical, peripheral, rhetorical

-cide

Meaning: killing | Examples: homicide, genocide, pesticide

-dom

Meaning: state of being something | Examples: freedom, wisdom, boredom, serfdom, fiefdom

-er, -or

Meaning: person who (noun) | Examples: arbiter, benefactor, dissenter, harbinger, instigator, orator, predecessor

-fy, -ify

Meaning: make, do, become | Examples: clarify, pacify, justify, simplify, amplify, solidify, personify

-ible

Meaning: capable of | Examples: credible, plausible, tangible

-ic

Meaning: relating to (adjective) | Examples: archaic, cryptic, enigmatic, pragmatic, sardonic

-ism

Meaning: belief system, condition | Examples: skepticism, altruism, capitalism, realism

-ist

Meaning: one who performs, believer | Examples: artist, abolitionist, pacifist

-ity

Meaning: state or quality | Examples: serenity, tenacity, ambiguity, equality, clarity

-ive

Meaning: having the quality of (adjective) | Examples: assertive, circumspective, cohesive, definitive, elusive, tentative

-ize

Meaning: to make or become | Examples: scrutinize, ostracize, galvanize, marginalize

-logy

Meaning: study, science, theory | Examples: biology, ideology, etymology

-ly

Meaning: in a particular way | Examples: clearly, abruptly, skeptically

-ment

Meaning: quality, condition, result | Examples: admonishment, deferment, endorsement

-nomy

Meaning: law, rule | Examples: autonomy, economy, taxonomy

-ous

Meaning: full of | Examples: acrimonious, ambitious, erroneous, frivolous

-phile

Meaning: one who loves | Examples: bibliophile, audiophile

-phobia

Meaning: fear of | Examples: claustrophobia, acrophobia

-tion

Meaning: act or process | Examples: aberration, admonition, allocation, cogitation

-y

Meaning: activity, state or condition | Examples: ambiguity, duplicity, magnanimity, sagacity