Every English learner wants to improve their vocabulary. You can grow your vocabulary power quickly and efficiently by learning word parts! English borrow many words and word parts from other languages, especially Latin and Greek. One kind of word part is suffixes. A suffix is added to the end of a word to change its meaning, and often its part of speech as well. The same suffixes are used in many words, so if you know some common ones, it will be easier to figure out the meanings of new words.

1. ENGLISH SUFFIXES
TO IMPROVE YOUR VOCABULARY

2. SUFFIXES
English has many common word parts:
prefixes, roots, and suffixes.

3. SUFFIXES
If you learn some of these word parts, it
will be easier for you to figure out the
meanings of new words.
WORD PARTS = VOCABULARY POWER!

4. SUFFIXES
We can add a suffix to the end of a word
to change its meaning.
KIND + NESS (state) =
KINDNESS (kind state)

5. SUFFIXES
A suffix usually indicates the PART OF
SPEECH of a word.
For example, words with the suffix –NESS
are nouns.

6. -ABLE
-IBLE
Examples:
 Trainable
 invisible
 Defensible
Meaning:
“capable
of”
adjective

7. -AL
Examples:
 Personal
 Verbal
 Political
Meaning:
“having
quality of;
related to”
adjective

8. -ER
-OR
Examples:
 Teacher
 Worker
 Spectator
Meaning:
“one who”
noun

9. -FUL
Examples:
 Beautiful
 Tearful
 Wonderful
Meaning:
“full of”
adjective

10. -IC
Examples:
 Linguistic
 Metallic
 Poetic
Meaning:
“having
quality of;
related to”
adjective

11. -ISM
Examples:
 Communism
 Buddhism
 Racism
Meaning:
“practice
or theory”
noun

12. -IST
Examples:
 Artist
 Typist
 Biologist
Meaning:
“one who”
noun

13. -LESS
Examples:
 Careless
 Hopeless
 Fearless
Meaning:
“without”
adjective

14. -LY
Examples:
 Carefully
 Clearly
 Slowly
Meaning:
“in a
manner”
adverb

15. -MENT
Examples:
 Enjoyment
 Retirement
 Contentment
Meaning:
“action or
process”
noun

16. -NESS
Examples:
 Sadness
 Kindness
 Playfulness
Meaning:
“state or
condition”
noun

17. -OID
Examples:
 Android
 Cuboid
 Planetoid
Meaning:
“like;
similar to”
noun

18. -OUS, -IOUS,
-OSE
Examples:
 Poisonous
 Anxious
 Verbose
Meaning:
“having
quality of”
adjective

19. -TION
-ATION
Examples:
 Revolution
 Decoration
 Celebration
Meaning:
“action”
noun