Noun Suffixes:

Suffix Meaning Example

-acy state or quality privacy, fallacy, delicacy
-al act or process of refusal, recital, rebuttal
-ance, -ence state or quality of maintenance, eminence, assurance
-dom place or state of being freedom, kingdom, boredom
-er, -or one who trainer, protector, narrator
-ism doctrine, belief communism, narcissism, skepticism
-ist one who chemist, narcissist, plagiarist
-ity, -ty quality of inactivity, veracity, parity, serenity
-ment condition of argument, endorsement, punishment
-ness state of being heaviness, sadness, rudeness, testiness
-ship position held fellowship, ownership, kinship, internship
-sion, -tion state of being concession, transition, abbreviation

Verb Suffixes:

Suffix Meaning Example

-ate become regulate, eradicate, enunciate, repudiate
-en become enlighten, awaken, strengthen
-ify, -fy make or become terrify, satisfy, rectify, exemplify
-ize, -ise* become civilize, humanize, socialize, valorize

Adjective Suffixes:

Suffix Meaning Example

-able, -ible capable of being edible, presentable, abominable, credible
-al pertaining to regional, grammatical, emotional, coastal
-esque reminiscent of picturesque, statuesque, burlesque
-ful notable for fanciful, resentful, woeful, doubtful
-ic, -ical pertaining to musical, mythic, domestic, chiastic
-ious, -ous characterized by nutritious, portentous, studious
-ish having the quality of fiendish, childish, snobbish
-ive having the nature of creative, punitive, divisive, decisive
-less without endless, ageless, lawless, effortless
-y characterized by sleazy, hasty, greasy, nerdy, smelly

In American English, verbs end with -ize, versus British English, in which the
spelling changes to -ise.

• American English: finalize, realize, emphasize, standardize

• British English: finalise, realise, emphasise, standardise
Negative Prefix List: Uses

De- is almost always used before a verb, or a word formed from that verb. It
means to reverse the verb’s action, as in dehydrate, deregulate, or detoxify. (It
can have other meanings besides making a verb negative. For example, it
means 'down' in decline, decrease, and depression.)

Dis- can be used with verbs, nouns, adjectives or adverbs. It also has other
meanings besides making words negative.

In-, non-, and un- are usually used for nouns, adjectives, or the adverbs
formed from them (though un- is also used for verbs.) They all mean not
_____. (In- is the negative prefix in Latin. non- means 'not' in Latin, and
many words using it as a prefix came into English via French. Un- comes from
Old English.)

Mis- is from Old English, or in some words from French. It's used with verbs
(and adjectives and adverbs made from them), as well as nouns. It means bad,
wrong, or wrongly.

Non- usually means not, but also may mean lack of something.

Un- is the most common negative prefix in English. If in doubt, it's the best
one to try. Un- is the negative prefix even for many words from Latin roots.

Important: sometimes an adjective uses one prefix and related nouns or verbs
use different ones